Source: Associated Press
Staff: Michael Felberbaum

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — The head of the government’s tobacco regulator says the Food and Drug Administration’s new power to regulate tobacco is a promising tool to reduce the toll of disease and death caused by tobacco use.

“This is an opportunity for me to serve my country by preventing its men, women and children from suffering and dying from tobacco-related diseases,” Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products told attendees Monday at the Tobacco Merchants Association annual meeting in Williamsburg, Va.

Deyton, who has held the job for about nine months, said his job is to address the “enormous toll of confusion, suffering and death caused by the current state of tobacco use in this country.”

“And frankly, we have a long way to go,” he said.

Deyton said his top priorities include stopping kids from picking up the habit, educating the public and applying standards based on science.

While Deyton encouraged an open dialogue with the industry, he acknowledged that some believe regulation as a threat to the tobacco business and will “try and block FDA at every turn in implementing this law.”

For those who ignore the law, Deyton said, the FDA has multiple options to enforce compliance and the agency will “not hesitate to take these steps when warranted.”

The FDA’s authority granted last June is the main area of discussion at the two-day gathering of tobacco manufacturers, growers and retailers. The agency is tasked with creating industry standards, and addressing issues like menthol cigarettes, as well as dissolvable tobacco and other products that companies claim are less harmful than cigarettes.

Industry representatives acknowledged the daunting task of the FDA’s regulation of the industry and urged transparency, as well as clear and concise guidelines. They also stressed the importance of basing the rules on science.

“Without science, this is going to be more of a political animal,” said George Cassels-Smith, the CEO of Tobacco Technology Inc., which designs flavors for the industry. “As adult consumers, shouldn’t you have the right to have choice in the tobacco product that you want, especially if you’re aware of all the health concerns? It would be a horrible situation to essentially level the playing ground by making everything taste essentially the same.”

Under law, the FDA can ban certain products such as flavored cigarettes, limit nicotine and block labels such as “low tar” and “light” meant to convey that certain products are less harmful.

The law doesn’t let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco outright.