FDA TPSAC's Menthol Theater Closing Its Doors

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness:

The TPSAC is moving toward completion of its assigned task, producing a report on menthol in cigarettes—with all the drama inherent in Broadway Theater. What will be their ultimate decision?

Does anyone know? At this writing even TPSAC may not know.

Does anyone care? The real question is, who should care?

Above all, who should care most are the parents of youths who, in event of a menthol ban, would purchase counterfeit menthol cigarettes which have been proven to be far more toxic, even by an order of magnitude, than legal cigarettes.

African-Americans should also care; African-American communities would bear the brunt of the health effects from the counterfeit cigarettes' higher toxicity as well as the increased crime associated with the sale of illegal cigarettes.

The non-smoking public should also care because the counterfeit cigarette trade would fuel violent crime. Terrorist organizations are already involved in the transport and sale of counterfeit cigarettes and, if the government increases the size of the market by banning menthol, these groups would expand their activities and it can be expected that violent drug cartels would move into counterfeit cigarette business.

CRE sent a letter to the FDA General Counsel asking him to direct TPSAC to comply with the law by requiring TPSAC to incorporate the adverse public health effects of contraband cigarettes into the menthol report. See the letter at http://www.thecre.com/dqa/?p=143

In the event the directive from the General Counsel is issued subsequent to the completion of the TPSAC report, then the resultant report may be in procedural jeopardy.

Read CRE's complete review of the TPSAC review here and also available at this post:

http://www.thecre.com/tpsac/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/TPSAC-Testimony-March-2-final.pdf

SOURCE Center for Regulatory Effectiveness

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