June 28, 2014
Back in 1994 ABC News aired an important documentary on its documentary series Day One that exposed the fact that Philip Morris was manipulating nicotine delivery in its cigarettes to maximize addiction potential. The documentary played an important role in moving the discussion of the tobacco industry forward (including then-FDA Commissioner David Kessler to propose regulation of tobacco products as well as contributing to the pressure for litigation against the cigarette companies.
Philip Morris sued ABC and ABC caved rather than defending the Day One documentary. This shameful episode, as well as CBS's caving to Big Tobacco by attempting to spike the 60 Minutes segment featuring former tobacco company executive and scientist Jeffery Wigand (that also included me confirming what Wigand said) is described in the excellent Frontline documentary "Smoke in the Eye," which can be viewed on the Internet Archive here.
It turns out that ABC spiked a second documentary, prepared for its documentary program Turning Point, "Tobacco Under Fire.".
June 28, 2014
The latest attempt to use trade agreements to create new channels for tobacco companies and other multinational companies to use investor-state provisions in treaties to allow these companies to sue governments to block sensible public health, public safety, worker protections, and envioronmental protections is the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP).
The European Commission is in the middle of a consultation EU on investment protection and investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) after which it will decide whether or not to agree to provisions that would be binding to all member states directly, or whether each member state would process the agreement separately.
While the trade agreement is very complex, the underlying principles that need to be stressed are not; Multinational companies should not be given standing to sue countries over laws designed to protect the public. In addition, all dispute resolution should be done in the open, in court, not in secret arbitration proceedings.
June 27, 2014
Several people have asked me why we are submitting so many (relatively) short comments rather than one huge one, which is what most groups do. Others have asked how to comment.
First, how to comment:
Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FDA-2014-N-0189-20870 and either type your comment into the box, upload a file, or both. If you upload a file, I suggest including the title or summary in the box together with "See attached file."
Why we are supporting so many shorter comments:
1. The first thing happens with comments is that they are processed by counting and classifying them. Limiting the topic of a comment to one subject increases the chances that it will be counted and classified correctly.
2. While the FDA denies it, the number of comments matters.
3. The next thing that will happen is that a contractor will code the comment's content. It is simple human nature to be able to concentrate longer on something short and relatively simple than something that is very long. Keeping the length shorter and the comment more focused on a single topic increases the chances that it will be coded properly.
June 27, 2014
My colleagues Gideon St.Helen, Peyton Jacob III, and Neal L Benowitz just submitted this comment to the FDA:
June 27, 2014
Hookah smoking is an alternative form of tobacco use traditionally associated with eastern societies, whose recent rapid spread globally and in the U.S. is a cause of public health concern 1. The spread and surge in popularity in the U.S. may be driven by the introduction of flavored tobacco preparations, reduced-harm perception, social café culture, exotic appeal, and marketing of hookah bars 2,3. Given the widespread use and accumulating scientific evidence showing significant intake of nicotine and carcinogens and some epidemiologic data showing harm, we support the FDA’s proposed deeming rule to regulate hookah tobacco and devices. However, to fully protect the public health, FDA needs to include hookah charcoal as a component of hookah devices for FDA regulation; mandate health warning labels on hookah tobacco and all components/parts; and, ban flavoring additives to hookah tobacco and flavorings on hookah charcoal and water.
June 27, 2014
The California Poision Control System based at San Francisco General Hospital just submitted this public comment to the FDA (PDF).
Child resistant packaging of electronic cigarette devices and refill liquid containers containing nicotine to prevent childhood poisoning
Docket No. FDA-2014-N-0189
California Poison Control System
Department of Clinical Pharmacy
University of California San Francisco.