After a week of bad news for the cigar industry, some light has appeared at the end of the tunnel. The Food and Drug Administration announced they are taking another look at premium cigars. According to the advanced notice of proposed rule making published today, the FDA is seeking feedback on how to define premium cigars.
According to that notice, “We received numerous comments on the deeming proposed rule with respect to premium cigars, both in favor of and against regulating these products. However, the comments against regulation provided little data to support the opinions expressed and, where studies were submitted, provided little information about the studies cited. FDA is seeking comments, evidence, information, data, and analysis that were not submitted in response to the proposed deeming rule.”
According to a paper submitted by Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health, “findings stated in this PATH Study Paper were that those who smoked “premium” cigars tended to report smoking them on fewer days compared with smokers of the other cigar types and reported consuming fewer cigars per day, on average, compared with smokers of other cigar types. In its conclusion, the PATH Study Paper highlighted the importance of adequately describing the cigar type studied and, where appropriate, differentiating results by cigar type.”
The FDA will seek comments on the definition of premium cigars, use patters of premium cigars and public health considerations with premium cigars beginning Monday for 90 days.
The ANPRM can be read at https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2018-06047.pdf or in the embedded document below.
2018-06047 by BarryStein on Scribd
