United States tobacco control did not have an easy 2022. So much turmoil has come and gone this past year that even the most dedicated harm reductionists and critics struggled to keep up at one point or another, as separate events blurred into one big pile of dysfunction.
Within the $1.7 trillion spending bill signed by President Joe Biden late last week is a substantial increase in funding to boost food safety activities and “infrastructure investments” at FDA, including directions to “strongly consider” the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s recommendation to restructure and unify the agency’s food program.
The staff at the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco division are overwhelmed, leading to a division that is too reactionary and has “struggled to function as a regulator,” according to an outside report.
Earlier this year, I commissioned an external evaluationExternal Link Disclaimer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Program, to be conducted by an external expert panel facilitated by the Reagan-Udall Foundation, led by former FDA Chief of Staff Lauren Silvis.
On December 19, the Reagan-Udall Foundation, an independent nonprofit tasked by Congress to help modernize the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), released a commissioned report on the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP).
An independent panel composed of former FDA and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials is recommending changes to the FDA’s tobacco regulatory operation to more effectively regulate new tobacco products.
The lack of clear direction and priorities at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco division has hampered its ability to regulate electronic cigarettes and other products, according to an expert panel assembled to examine problems at the agency.
The arm of the FDA that oversees tobacco products has "struggled to function as a regulator" and has been "forced to operate primarily in a reactive mode" a report released Monday by the Reagan-Udall Foundation found.
An independent review of the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco regulators described them as overwhelmed, reactive and fatigued by an oppressive workload involving e-cigarettes and called for a major effort, by several parts of the Biden administration, to remove millions of illegal vaping products from the market.
(December 19, 2022) The Independent Expert Panel for Tobacco today submitted its recommendations to Commissioner Robert Califf at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Operational Evaluation of Certain Components of FDA’s Tobacco Program was facilitated by the Reagan-Udall Foundation at the Commissioner’s request.
