Industry insiders welcome FDA’s new tobacco plan
Also welcoming the announcement made by Gottlieb was The R Street Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit public policy research organization. R Street Harm Reduction Policy Director Carrie Wade noted that this should be considered an important first step to reorient FDA regulation of tobacco products from a process designed to protect the sales and profits of the major cigarette makers, to one designed to reduce tobacco-related addiction, illness and death.
“R Street has been one of the leading proponents of a harm-reduction approach to cigarette addiction, so to read today’s announcement feels like vindication that someone is listening,” Wade said. “It’s taken a little while, but it seems the FDA is beginning to realize something the scientific community woke up to years ago: policies aimed at destroying the e-cigarette market actually would result in the unintended consequence of more smokers sticking with traditional combustible cigarettes.”
