Yesterday, ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross presented ACSH s position on access to reduced-risk tobacco and nicotine products at the FDA s public meeting on nicotine replacement therapies and smoking-cessation products.
In his synopsis of the current sad state of affairs, Dr. Ross after discussing the counterproductive FDA approach to communicating risks called to account the public health authorities who have misled and continue to mislead smokers about the risks of various tobacco products. He states,
Like the tobacco company executives who are now required to confess, accept responsibility and apologize, [those public health officials] will have to explain why they stubbornly adhered to a dogma based on belief or agenda, despite clear evidence to the contrary, maintaining with straight faces that There is no safe form of tobacco. Smokeless products [and by implication other non-combustible tobacco products] are not a safe alternative to smoking. Such a position, based on agenda, not science, has cost and will cost many smokers their lives if nothing changes.
To watch the meeting in its entirety click here.