Testimony before an expert panel convened as part of the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s operational evaluation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products.
These comments were presented before an expert panel organized by the Reagan-Udall Foundation. This expert panel was convened as part of the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s operational evaluation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products.
I want to thank the expert panelists for including this public dialogue as part of their evaluation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I would also like to make it clear that my interest in this conversation is not to advocate for or against any particular product or company. My interest is in people, the individual human beings whose lives can be drastically affected, for good or for bad, by the way government agencies approach regulation. It is people who are at the heart of the discussion about tobacco regulation and this investigation into how well the FDA is fulfilling its public mission.
While there is no shortage of debate when it comes to how tobacco products should be regulated, there is widespread agreement that the current approach adopted by the FDA is not working. The enormous challenge facing the experts on the panel is to shed light on why that is the case and what can be done to fix it for the benefit of the public. To that end, I offer the following comments, and I hope they will bring some sober clarity to a controversial issue.
The overarching message I would like to communicate is this: Unless there is a viable pathway for safer products to enter the market legally, there will be no innovation toward safer products, and we will continue to condemn the millions of current and future adults who enjoy the non-medical use of nicotine to one of two undesirable options—illicit market products or deadly combustible cigarettes.
Michelle Minton – Reason – 2022-10-24.
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