Breaking the code of lower deliveries

Tobacco manufacturers seem to have evaded the ban on misleading descriptors that convey reduced health risk messages, according to researchers at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Global Tobacco Control, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, US.

Under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA), the Food and Drug Administration banned the use on tobacco packages of the ‘Lights descriptor or similar terms that conveyed messages of reduced risk, the research authors said.

But while manufacturers eliminated terms explicitly stated, they substituted colour name descriptors corresponding to the banned terms.

‘The FPSTCA provides regulatory mechanisms, including banning these products as adulterated (Section 902),’ the researchers said in conclusion.

‘Manufacturers could then apply for pre-market approval as new products and produce evidence for FDA evaluation and determination whether or not sales of these products are in the public health interest.’

This research was published as an open access document by Tobacco Control and may be read in full at: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/03/01/tobaccocontrol-2012-050746.full.