Philip Morris Wants to Position Smokeless Tobacco as Alternative
By DAVID KESMODEL
Tobacco giant Philip Morris USA Inc. is urging the Food and Drug Administration to adopt a regulatory plan that would encourage smokers who can't or won't quit tobacco to switch to less-harmful smokeless tobacco.
Philip Morris and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., both units of Altria Group Inc., said in a letter to the FDA late last month that a regulatory framework that takes into account the "continuum of risk" of different types of tobacco products could "have a significant public health benefit."
The companies, based in Richmond, Va., filed the letter as part of a public-comment period in which the FDA accepted ideas for implementing the landmark law enacted last year that gave the agency broad authority to regulate tobacco products.
The comments place the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and Skoal moist smokeless tobacco into a complex debate over how to reduce tobacco-related harm. The new law, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, empowers the FDA to implement strategies to curtail tobacco-related illness and death.
The companies argued in the letter that regulations that permit the industry to communicate to consumers about the lower dangers of smokeless-tobacco products could complement, rather than compete with, efforts to get people to stop using tobacco or to keep them from starting.
Matthew Myers, president of the advocacy group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, criticized Altria's letter, calling it "a ploy to weaken" standards established in the tobacco-regulation law. The law sets a high bar for health-related claims, stipulating that manufacturers demonstrate that the product significantly reduces the risk of tobacco-related disease for individual users and benefits the health of the U.S. population as a whole. "This is directly counter to the legislation that they supported," said Mr. Myers, whose group coordinated support for the legislation.
Brendan McCormick, an Altria spokesman, said Philip Morris was "very consistent" in its letter in saying that the regulatory framework be based "on science and evidence."
Philip Morris didn't specify the types of regulations it might like to see from the FDA. David Adelman, an industry analyst with Morgan Stanley, said the FDA, "in theory," might place lighter advertising restrictions on smokeless-tobacco products than on cigarettes or approve warning labels that highlight the lower risks of the products, among other scenarios.
"What Altria would like, and I think Reynolds would like, is an endorsement by the government that smokeless-tobacco products do indeed have significantly less risk," Mr. Adelman said. "That could be a real boon to the category."
Philip Morris's comments are similar to those by rival Reynolds American Inc., the maker of Camel cigarettes and the No. 2 industry player in the U.S. after Altria. Reynolds, in an October letter to the FDA, said "real health benefits can result from encouraging the production of, the investment in, and the migration to lower-risk products." Reynolds makes Grizzly moist snuff and Camel Snus, a type of spit-free smokeless tobacco.
Some public-health advocates support the idea of encouraging smokers to switch to smokeless products as a way to reduce tobacco-related disease. But others strongly oppose the strategy, saying it could prompt people who otherwise would never use tobacco to become addicted to it. Many scientific studies have shown that smokeless products carry lower health risks than cigarettes.
An FDA spokeswoman declined to comment on Altria's letter but said the agency would "carefully consider all comments submitted by all parties when implementing the many provisions of the tobacco-control act."
By DAVID KESMODEL
Tobacco giant Philip Morris USA Inc. is urging the Food and Drug Administration to adopt a regulatory plan that would encourage smokers who can't or won't quit tobacco to switch to less-harmful smokeless tobacco.
Philip Morris and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., both units of Altria Group Inc., said in a letter to the FDA late last month that a regulatory framework that takes into account the "continuum of risk" of different types of tobacco products could "have a significant public health benefit."
The companies, based in Richmond, Va., filed the letter as part of a public-comment period in which the FDA accepted ideas for implementing the landmark law enacted last year that gave the agency broad authority to regulate tobacco products.
The comments place the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and Skoal moist smokeless tobacco into a complex debate over how to reduce tobacco-related harm. The new law, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, empowers the FDA to implement strategies to curtail tobacco-related illness and death.
The companies argued in the letter that regulations that permit the industry to communicate to consumers about the lower dangers of smokeless-tobacco products could complement, rather than compete with, efforts to get people to stop using tobacco or to keep them from starting.
Matthew Myers, president of the advocacy group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, criticized Altria's letter, calling it "a ploy to weaken" standards established in the tobacco-regulation law. The law sets a high bar for health-related claims, stipulating that manufacturers demonstrate that the product significantly reduces the risk of tobacco-related disease for individual users and benefits the health of the U.S. population as a whole. "This is directly counter to the legislation that they supported," said Mr. Myers, whose group coordinated support for the legislation.
Brendan McCormick, an Altria spokesman, said Philip Morris was "very consistent" in its letter in saying that the regulatory framework be based "on science and evidence."
Philip Morris didn't specify the types of regulations it might like to see from the FDA. David Adelman, an industry analyst with Morgan Stanley, said the FDA, "in theory," might place lighter advertising restrictions on smokeless-tobacco products than on cigarettes or approve warning labels that highlight the lower risks of the products, among other scenarios.
"What Altria would like, and I think Reynolds would like, is an endorsement by the government that smokeless-tobacco products do indeed have significantly less risk," Mr. Adelman said. "That could be a real boon to the category."
Philip Morris's comments are similar to those by rival Reynolds American Inc., the maker of Camel cigarettes and the No. 2 industry player in the U.S. after Altria. Reynolds, in an October letter to the FDA, said "real health benefits can result from encouraging the production of, the investment in, and the migration to lower-risk products." Reynolds makes Grizzly moist snuff and Camel Snus, a type of spit-free smokeless tobacco.
Some public-health advocates support the idea of encouraging smokers to switch to smokeless products as a way to reduce tobacco-related disease. But others strongly oppose the strategy, saying it could prompt people who otherwise would never use tobacco to become addicted to it. Many scientific studies have shown that smokeless products carry lower health risks than cigarettes.
An FDA spokeswoman declined to comment on Altria's letter but said the agency would "carefully consider all comments submitted by all parties when implementing the many provisions of the tobacco-control act."
Comment