Last week the Food and Drug Administration held a 3 day meeting to discuss the safety and risks associated with "dissolvable" products."Dissolvables" are flavored mints, strips and sticks of smokeless tobacco. These products are not stop-smoking aids. Instead, they are designed to allow people to satisfy their cravings for nicotine in places where smoking is banned.
Although not available nationwide....yet, RJ Reynolds is completing test marketing in two cities and Star Scientific markets two products that are available now (Ariva and Stonewall).
These products worry many public health advocates due to risks these products pose to children and teens, whether that's addiction or nicotine poisoning. The risk of accidental ingestion, which results in poisoning, is already on the rise. According to a 2010 study published in Pediatrics, smokeless products are the second most common cause of nicotine poisoning in children....behind cigarettes.
So all eyes are on the FDA. It was the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that gives authority over the manufacture, distribution and marketing of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.
No comments:
Post a Comment