PRESS RELEASE: Regulate Smarter On The Fox News Rundown: Authorize More Legal Products To Combat Nicotine Crisis

Richard Burr: “There is a responsibility on the part of FDA to actually begin to do their job at CTP and to provide adult consumers with more choices that are approved on the retail shelf”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a wide-ranging conversation on the Fox News Rundown podcast, former U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the Coalition for Smarter Regulation of Nicotine (Regulate Smarter), urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to “approve more products” to meet the growing demand for adult consumers seeking smokefree alternatives to combustible cigarettes.

In discussing the illicit nicotine crisis, which the Trump Administration has taken meaningful steps to address on the enforcement side, Burr noted that, “we’ve seen a great interest on the part of Americans to use {smokefree} nicotine products, but there are not as many choices…so the market is flooded with additional products that have yet to be reviewed.”

Sounding the alarm on the urgency of the situation, Burr noted that “nobody really knows” the ingredients or make up of products not subject to FDA review.

Burr reminds listeners that the intent of the bipartisan 2009 Tobacco Control Act was to bring reduced harm products into the marketplace for adult consumers so they would have choice. “Over the last decade, we’ve seen a massive reduction in the use of combustible tobacco products, as people have switched to either vape or to other types of nicotine delivery,” he added.

He notes that while the Biden Administration was “a lot of talk, but no action,” under the Trump Administration, “we’ve actually seen enforcement efforts to clean up the marketplace from smuggled and illegal products that were in the market, but here again, it takes an effort at review and approval to make sure there are sufficient number of products and options on the shelves of retailers so that adult users can find what their preference is.”

Burr concludes by emphasizing: “There is a responsibility on the part of FDA to actually begin to do their job at CTP and to provide adult consumers with more choices that are approved on the retail shelf.

Listen to the entire interview HERE.

Regulate Smarter’s web site is available here https://www.regulate-smarter.org/

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The Coalition for Smarter Regulation of Nicotine (Regulate Smarter) is comprised of members representing manufacturers, distributors, and retailers committed to operating responsibly within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-regulated marketplace. Regulate Smarter supports an FDA regulatory system that delivers on the original harm reduction vision of the Tobacco Control Act. Chaired by former U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), the Regulate Smarter Coalition is committed to advancing a modern, common-sense approach to regulating tobacco and nicotine that is grounded in science. To learn more, visit: https://www.regulate-smarter.org/