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January 28th, 2017:

Trump’s Administration on the FDA Regulating Cigars

Jan 28th, 2017
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http://www.counselheal.com/articles/31659/20170128/trump-administration-on-the-fda-regulating-cigars.htm

President Donald Trump and his administration are about to get busy in the coming months. The present administration is expected to review the regulatory powers of the Food and Drug Administration of the United States over tobacco products.

The Daily Caller reports that organizations like the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are petitioning the FDA with its programs to discourage young people from smoking pipes and cigars. The group sees the idea of the government arm of paying up to $25 per cigar as absurd.

Last year, the FDA announced that its plans to regulate tobacco products and e-cigarettes did not push through in August because of injunctions filed by tobacco organizations against the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services in July 2016. The additional regulations aim to prohibit walk-in humidors in stores, ban colorful and artistic labels on cigars and cigar boxes and will require pipe shop owners to secure a manufacturer’s license prior to taking bulk tobacco orders.

The H.R. 563, known as the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Preservation Act of 2017, when taken into effect will override the FDA’s regulations for cigars and was originally sponsored by Congressman Bill Posey and Florida Democrat Kathy Castor.

Forbes reports that Trump’s views against regulations and how they hamper the U.S. economy is backed up in his First 100 Days of Action Plan where is plans on cutting the red tape at the FDA. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that was signed by former U.S President Barack Obama gave the FDA the regulatory powers over tobacco products.

The new President’s move against or in favor of new and existing policies in the administration is now creating speculations not only in the FDA issue but as well as in healthcare. Trump has been very expressive against the Affordable Care Act and has pledged that an appeal to Congress will be in the works once he is elected.

Modifications of his stance on these issues and how far he will deconstruct existing policies is what the nation awaits.

Tobacco price rises cut smoking but some pay more than $40 a packet

Jan 28th, 2017
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The rapid rise of tobacco prices is seeing smokers change habits, say Nelson retailers.

However, there are diehard smokers, who say they cannot give up, paying more than NZ$40 for a packet of their preferred cigarettes.

At 10 per cent increase on cigarettes and tobacco products took effect this month, the first of four annual 10 per cent increases designed to help make New Zealand smokefree by 2025.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/88756238/tobacco-price-rises-cut-smoking-but-some-pay-more-than-40-a-packet

ROBERT CHARLES/FAIRFAX MEDIA

Smoking just a little more harder to take in with tax hikes on January 1 raising the price of tobacco products by 10 per cent.

The cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes will rise to about $30 in the next four years.

Independent retailer Mark Nicholson of Richmond Discount said the excise tax increases had “not negatively” affected his business.

But he had seen a shift in where people bought their tobacco, and a change from premium to value brands.

“They’ll come to us because it’s a bit cheaper and a bit faster, as opposed to regulatory [procedures] at places like supermarkets,” he said.

While he accepted there was a goal to reduce smoking rates in New Zealand, especially among young people, Nicholson said there were unintended consequences from the price increases.

Some of his regular clients were getting “hammered” financially due to their life-long habit.

“The bulk of our customers are aged, on a pension or fixed income, have smoked their whole life and when they started smoking no one was saying, ‘hey its bad for you’,” he said.

A Nelson smoker of 48 years, who did not want to be named, said he now had to pay NZ$46 for his preferred packet of 40 cigarettes.

“It’s not going to restrict me because I’m craving for the damn thing – I’m addicted and there’s nothing they can come up with any certainty that will knock the cigarettes off,” he said.

He said he started smoking when it was a common part of Kiwi culture, when the health effects were not fully known and there were no warning labels on packets.

Nicholson said another unintended consequence of price rises was to make tobacco products very attractive to organised crime.

As a result, Nicholson said businesses like his spent thousands annually on insurance and security to protect against those looking to cash in.

“The costs just get exponentially higher for us, the risks get exponentially higher and we have to do things to combat that, because you’re talking about a product that’s highly targetable and highly fencible.”

Manager of Fresh Choice Nelson City Mark A’Court said sales for cigarettes and tobacco were down this year.

“This is an ongoing trend for our store over the past few years, where we are 7 per cent down, but not in all supermarkets where tobacco sales actually [show] growth in sales dollars, not volume.”

A’Court said Fresh Choice’s prices were set by its head office and they did not get into discount lines as some stores had done.

Packets of 20 were being sold for between NZ$23- $27, while 30 gram pouches of tobacco were selling between $48-$53.

New Zealand is already one of the most expensive places to buy cigarettes in the world, behind Australia which also has strong pricing measures to deter smokers.

Online database Numbeo shows that a packet of 20 Marlboro cigarettes costs, on average, NZ$22.

In comparison, the same quantity costs NZ$26.04 in Australia, $NZ15.57 in Britain, $NZ8.99 in the USA and $NZ0.93 in Nigeria.

Smokers have declined significantly in New Zealand in the last 20 years with 17 per cent of adults currently smoking, of which 15 per cent smoke daily.

This has dropped from 25 per cent in 1996/97.

The New Zealand youth smoking rate dropped from 14 per cent to 6 per cent in the past 5 years.

The three key objectives of tobacco control activities in New Zealand are to reduce smoking initiation, increase quitting and reduce exposure to second-hand smoke.

The national target is that 90 percent of Primary Health Organisation-enrolled patients who smoke have been offered help to quit smoking by a health practitioner in the last 15 months.

For the quarter between July and September 2016, Nelson Bays Primary Health sat third on the national table, with 92 per cent.

The cost of smoking: (Source: Quitline)

– Someone smoking a pack a day spends about $160 a week on cigarettes, which is nearly $8,500 each year.
– There are approximately 650,000 smokers in New Zealand.
– 4,700-5,000 New Zealanders die from smoking-related illness each year.
– Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand.

Anti-Tobacco Groups Worried About Trump, Congress

Jan 28th, 2017
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Lawmakers considering efforts to weaken FDA’s regulatory power

http://www.medpagetoday.com/pulmonology/smoking/62788

The federal government and most states continued to receive mostly failing grades from the American Lung Association (ALA) for efforts to reduce tobacco use among adults and teens during 2016, despite the enactment of the long-awaited “deeming” rule giving FDA regulatory authority over all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and cigars.

The failure to require graphic warning labels on cigarette packaging and to move toward banning menthol cigarettes earned federal administrators and lawmakers an “F” grade from the ALA for tobacco regulation, according to the group’s annual State of Tobacco Control report, released late this week.

But despite these shortcomings, anti-tobacco advocates who spoke to MedPage Today say there is no question that regulatory and other actions taken at the state and federal level during the Obama administration’s 8-year tenure helped spur the record decline in tobacco use among adults and teens.

And they expressed concern that many of these hard-fought gains will be rolled back by the new administration and Congress.

“There is no question that what government does makes a big difference,” Matthew L. Myers of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids told MedPage Today.

“During the last eight years we have seen tobacco advertising restricted through the FDA, there have been sustained (anti-tobacco) mass media campaigns, tobacco taxes have increased and internet sales have been curtailed. All of these things contributed to the dramatic decline in tobacco consumption,” Myers asserted.

Speaking with a group of corporate leaders on Monday, President Trump vowed to do away with 75% or more of government regulations and he repeated his campaign promise of massive tax cuts.

Myers said Trump’s views on specific tobacco regulations and taxes are not known.

“President Trump has not spoken about this, so it is still unclear what position he will personally take,” Myers said. “To date, the physical manifestation of our concern comes from the cigarette and e-cigarette industries urging Congress to curtail funding for successful mass media campaigns and critical regulatory measures.”

The ALA’s Erika Seward said two specific attempts now before Congress to weaken FDA’s regulatory authority over tobacco are of particular concern.

On Jan. 13, Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) reintroduced a bill in the House to exempt premium cigars from FDA regulation. The agency’s deeming rule announced last May extended its authority to cigars, e-cigarettes, pipe tobacco, and hookah. Posey first introduced the legislation in 2015, but it failed to pass under the previous Congress.

Congress is also considering legislation to grandfather flavored e-cigarettes and other non-traditional cigarette tobacco products, which would allow them to stay on the market.

“This is especially troubling because the Surgeon General has found that these flavors are particularly attractive to kids,” Seward said, noting that flavorings are believed to be a major driver of the more than 10-fold increase in e-cigarette use among high school-age kids between 2011 and 2015.

She added that there is “real concern about what lies ahead for reducing tobacco use and, specifically, whether the FDA’s existing authority will be weakened.”

While President Trump has not yet named a new FDA director, past actions by his pick for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary have not lessened this fear.

Rep. Tom Price, MD (R-Ga.), was one of the few members of Congress to vote against giving FDA authority over tobacco, and he also voted against continuation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which is largely funded by tobacco taxes.

As head of HHS, Price would have authority over the FDA, the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, and other major health agencies.

Myers said lobbyists from the e-cigarette industry are working to convince lawmakers to effectively prevent the FDA from regulating the products, as are groups that oppose government regulation on ideological grounds.

On Jan. 17, a coalition of a dozen free-market and anti-tax activist groups opposed to e-cigarette regulation, including FreedomWorks and Campaign for Liberty, sent a letter to Congress urging that all products on the market before the regulations went into effect last August be exempt from key provisions of FDA oversight, arguing that regulation “is depriving smokers of a demonstrably safer alternative (to traditional cigarettes).”

“While everyone’s focus seems to be on the White House, the tobacco industry has made it clear that it intends to urge Congress to dramatically curtail what has been working to reduce tobacco use,” Myers said.”It may feel like we’ve been back this year for a really long time, but it’s still early.”