-=MAPLE GALAXY=-

troymomwlf

As a part of the FDA’s implementation of retail tobacco regulations, the Tobacco Control Act granted the FDA the authority to contract with states to perform surveillance inspections and compliance checks in retail stores. While the FDA intends to contract with every state to assist in inspecting tobacco retailers, to date the FDA has contracted with Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Colorado, Idaho, Illinois,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Kansas, Maine, Maryland,marlboro cigarettes online, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington.
The first round of inspections recently occurred in Mississippi and 95% of 493 Mississippi inspected retailers passed the compliance checks. A third major regulatory action by the FDA this year will be a decision on what action to take, if any, on menthol cigarettes. The Tobacco Control Act banned all flavored cigarettes, except menthol cigarettes. However, the law also established the Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) to study the “impact of the use of menthol in cigarettes on the public health, including such use among children,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], African-Americans, Hispanics, and other racial and ethnic minorities.”
A report by the TPSAC, with its recommendation on menthol cigarettes, will be submitted to the FDA by the end of March 2011. Kelly Camoza, who has owned a convenience store in Kent for nearly four years, spoke as a representative of 400 members of the Washington Association of Neighborhood Stores. The bill, she said, could cause the state to lose millions of dollars in tax revenues �D and still wouldn’t keep the products out of the hands of kids,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], who have been sneaking smokes since long before the advent of flavored products.
Some committee members weren’t convinced a law is needed. Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, worried that the bill would create a patchwork of regulations, with people traveling to different towns to get products. “Kids have automobiles these days,” she said. Rep. Bill Hinkle,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], R-Cle Elum, said lawmakers shouldn’t continue proposing bills to restrict tobacco while expecting to pay for health-care programs with tobacco-tax revenue. “At what point do we actually say we have done enough?”
Even if using tobacco is a bad idea, “At some point, we have to say, you know what, you can’t stop people from being stupid or arguably, having some fun once in a while,” Hinkle said. “At some point,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], we have to say, this is America, and this is freedom. … When will you guys stop coming here every year?” “When people don’t use tobacco that kills,” shot back Rep. Eileen Cody, D-Seattle,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], committee chairwoman and a sponsor of the bill.
The Bands have won $8 million in other grants to support their team of 14 researchers, whose work also has implications for treating breast and lung cancer. It’s ironic that money from tobacco companies helps scientists battle cancer, Band said. “In some way it’s a kind of restitution,” he said. “I wish we didn’t have to rely on this kind of funding. It would be better if our society had a better way of funding research. But we need every dollar.”