Source: www2.journalnow.com
Author: Richard Craver

A small tobacco manufacturer in Richmond, Va., said Tuesday that it has developed a moist-snuff product that has the lowest levels of carcinogens — in this case nitrosamines — in the marketplace.

That includes “99 percent lower than the levels found in conventional American moist snuffs, such as Copenhagen or Skoal, and 90 percent less than the level found in current snus products,” the company said.

Star Scientific Inc. plans to apply soon to the Food and Drug Administration for permission to market the product, part of its Stonewall brand, as “modified risk” under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009. That act gave the FDA the regulatory control over new tobacco products.

Star applied last year to market its Ariva and Stonewell lozenges as modified risk.

“Our company’s belief and hope is that the FDA will give a robust look at the science of our application and other reduced-risk applications,” said Sara Machir, the vice president of communications and investor relations for Star.

The request is likely to stoke further debate between two sets of anti-smoking groups.

One set says smokeless tobacco serves as gateway products for teenagers to cigarettes and discourages users from quitting. The other set says the products are a way to reduce the risk of tobacco use compared with cigarettes.

Scott Ballin, the past chairman of the Coalition on Smoking or Health, said the debate “is more about competition, market share and profits than it is about public health.”

If Star’s moist-snuff claim can be verified, it is likely to get through the FDA approval “in a quicker-than-usual time period,” said Stephen Pope, an industry analyst and the managing partner of Spotlight Ideas in England.

“Given the fast-growth rate of the smokeless tobacco market … surely it is better to speed the analysis and verification of this product so that a ‘healthy option’ is made available to the public ASAP.”

If Star makes a product the FDA approves and consumers like, it likely would require being bought by a larger manufacturer “to even think of getting this product on the market years from now,” said Jeff Middleswart, the portfolio manager of USA Mutuals Vice Fund.