In a letter to the FDA on modified risk tobacco products (MRTP), a coalition of public health non-profits, including the American Cancer Society, The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and the American Heart Association, cites the tobacco industry s long history of misleading the public. As is now common knowledge, the industry hid the dangers of cigarette smoking, manipulated their products to enhance addictiveness, and marketed to young people. Now, these non-profits have used this history as a springboard to urge the FDA to establish stringent standards for the marketing of MRTP.
The letter states that tobacco companies are interested only in their bottom-line financial interests, with no regard for the health of Americans. Therefore, before permitting companies to make any claims about the reduced health risks associated with MRTP, says the coalition, the FDA must ensure that the we don t again fall victim to such baseless claims as were foisted on the public in the instances of filter cigarettes and light cigarettes in past decades.
ACSH is as familiar with the tobacco industry s infamous past as any other public health organization, and agrees that their earlier actions were irresponsible and led to the premature deaths of millions of people. But now we must look to the future, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. We must not allow a reflexive antipathy and mistrust of the tobacco industry prevent creative solutions to the huge problem of cigarette addiction which I fear is a trap these nonprofits have fallen into.
So yes, even though their bottom line is still to generate a profit, cigarette sales are now diminishing, while ST use is on the rise, continues Dr. Ross. And, therefore, many in the tobacco industry are now pressing ahead with goals of reducing tobacco-related harm by promoting ST products, since currently approved smoking cessation methodologies work only 10 percent of the time or less. Something must be done to change that low success rate, and ST in the form of snus has the potential to help millions of smokers quit. So instead of merely citing history and attacking the tobacco industry, we should be calling on the FDA to be flexible with their approach to marketing ST and other potentially reduced-risk products, in an effort to save lives.