A response to the recent misleading “Deadly Alliance” report implicating convenience stores. By Seth A. Mailhot, Special Counsel, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. This is the first of what will be a continuing series on the regulation of tobacco retailing. In future articles, I will address the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) regulation…
FDA Introduces Draft Guidance on MRTPs and HPHCs for Tobacco
FDA intends to focus reporting enforcement on 20 HPHCs during 2012, and provides details for those seeking to market a tobacco product as modified or lower risk. Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released two separate draft guidance documents to “help fight the tobacco epidemic and stop children from using tobacco.” The draft…
Graphic Warning Labels Ruled Unconstitutional
Tobacco companies win lawsuit against FDA. U.S. Federal District Judge Richard Leon yesterday, Wednesday, Feb. 29, ruled that the 36 graphic cigarette warning labels the FDA sought to require tobacco manufacturers to cover cigarette packs with are unconstitutional, Adweek reported. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Tobacco Co., Commonwealth Brands Inc., Liggett Group LLC, and Santa…
A Simple Tobacco Fable
Alternative products are helping to shape the future of convenience store tobacco sets. By Lou Maiellano. Imagine, if you will, that European explorers land in Africa, North America or South America in the 14th, 15th or 16th centuries. Upon landing, these explorers find the inhabitants of these exotic new lands drinking a strange, energizing brew…
FDA Calls For Comments
The FDA is encouraging retailers to send comments, data, research or other information related to non-face-to-face sale and distribution of tobacco products. The FDA is extending the comment period until Jan. 19, 2012, for an Advance Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (ANPRM) that was published in the Federal Register of Sept. 9, 2011 (76 FR 55835).…
FDA Comments on the International Tobacco Regulators’ Conference
“It is only natural that like-minded leaders band together to combat this global threat in unison,” says the Commissioner of Food and Drugs. This week, 65 representatives of health and regulatory agencies from 22 countries attended the International Tobacco Regulators’ Conference, hosted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the World Health Organization…
FDA Issues Warning Letters To Tobacco Retailers
More than 1,200 retailers that sell tobacco receive warnings about violations. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent warning letters to more than 1,200 retailers, the majority of which respond to violations relating to selling tobacco to minors, as part of its ongoing effort to reduce tobacco use among children. While most retail establishments…
FDA’s Requirement For Graphic Images on Cigarette Packs Blocked
A Federal Judge strikes down FDA’s graphic image requirement on packs of cigarettes until the lawsuit is resolved. A judge has blocked a federal mandate that would require tobacco companies to add graphic images to cigarette packages in 2012, the Associated Press reported. On Monday, Nov. 7, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled cigarette manufacturers…
Enhance Food Safety
High-temperature warewashers not only offer environmental and cost-saving benefits, they can also improve food safety by ensuring that wash and rinse temperatures always comply with the NSF and FDA Food Code minimum temperatures. Restaurant managers who want to reduce water consumption and energy costs in their operations while enhancing performance and food safety need look…
Seizing Control of Smokeless Sales
Convenience store retailers are still concerned over the FDA’s involvement in smokeless tobacco, but many expressed optimism that the category can continue to thrive. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. While taxes and regulations haven’t impacted sales of smokeless tobacco products as much as some had predicted, it remains up to retailers to continue aggressively marketing…