Has FDA abandoned its efforts to make fake-cigar cigarettes comply with federal tobacco control laws that apply to cigarettes but not cigars?
Has FDA abandoned its efforts to make fake-cigar cigarettes comply with federal tobacco control laws that apply to cigarettes but not cigars?
复制标题
DOI：
10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055395
复制
发表时间：
2020-11-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.2
通讯作者：
Delnevo, Cristine
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lindblom, Eric N.;Mays, Darren;Delnevo, Cristine
在美国，香烟和雪茄的法律定义对烟草控制政策至关重要，因为联邦、州和地方法律通常比雪茄更严格地征税和管制香烟。2016年，在奥巴马政府即将结束之际，美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）向四家过滤过的“小雪茄”制造商发出了警告信，称他们的所谓“雪茄”是香烟，因此受到更严格的公共卫生限制。根据《信息自由法》（Freedom of Information Act）的要求提供的文件显示，在没有任何解释或公开通知的情况下，FDA放弃了其先前的认定，即制造商的“小雪茄”实际上是香烟，因此违反了《家庭吸烟预防和烟草控制法》（TCA）中对调味香烟的禁令。这些文件还提出了制造商反对FDA最初立场的论点。然而，这些行业的论点与研究、其他证据和法律分析不一致，这些证据和法律分析表明，过滤过的“小雪茄”符合TCA和其他类似的联邦、州和地方对卷烟的法律定义。为了保护公众健康，FDA必须重新努力，以确保这些过滤过的“小雪茄”不会继续逃避适用于香烟而不适用于雪茄的许多重要限制和要求。其他具有类似定义的政府监管和税收机构需要效仿。
In the USA, legal definitions of cigarettes and cigars are critical to tobacco control policy because federal, state and local laws typically tax and regulate cigarettes more strictly than cigars. In 2016, near the end of the Obama Administration, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent warning letters to four filtered 'little cigar' manufacturers stating that their so-called 'cigars' were cigarettes and, therefore, subject to more stringent public health restrictions. Documents produced in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show that without explanation or public notice FDA has abandoned its prior determination that the manufacturers' 'little cigars' were actually cigarettes and, consequently, were violating the ban on flavoured cigarettes in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA). The documents also present the manufacturers' arguments against FDA's original position. However, those industry arguments are inconsistent with the research, other evidence and legal analysis indicating that filtered 'little cigars' meet the legal definition of cigarettes under the TCA and other similar federal, state and local definitions. To protect the public health, FDA must renew its efforts to ensure that these filtered 'little cigars' do not continue to evade compliance with the many important restrictions and requirements that apply to cigarettes but not cigars. Other government regulatory and tax-collection agencies with similar definitions need to follow suit.