American Heart Assn et al - Letter to Dr Gottlieb October 2017.
I don't recall seeing this posted previously, but given where things stand currently, it's invaluable having institutions such as the ALA, AHA, CAN and CTFK also advocating for the FDA to move forward on their reduced nicotine initiative.
Google "Partners letter to Dr Gottlieb October 2017" if the link below doesn't work.
The letter to FDA Commissioner Gottlieb (with copy to Mitch Zeller) is signed by the heads of the Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Truth Initiative and strongly endorses setting a firm deadline for completing a Final Rule to reduce levels of nicotine while also calling upon FDA to fast track approval of innovative products that promote smoking cessation.
I draw your attention to the following portions of the letter:
Page 2, last two paragraphs: The FDA has an historic opportunity to reduce the death and disease caused by tobacco and dramatically reduce government healthcare costs… 1) The first key to the success of your plan is for the FDA to take decisive, concrete steps, such as those enumerated below, to reduce the use of cigarettes and all other combusted tobacco products as dramatically and as rapidly as possible. This needs to be FDA’s highest tobacco specific priority. It will require a multi-faceted strategy using all the many tools Congress provided to the FDA. We support the objective of reducing the level of nicotine in cigarettes to render them minimally or non-addictive…… (emphasis in red added)
Page 4, last paragraph: 2) It is critical that FDA begin action promptly, and set a firm deadline for completing, a Final Rule to reduce the levels of nicotine in cigarettes. As you explained, if nicotine were reduced to minimally addictive levels and such a product standard were actively enforced, we could save young people who experiment with cigarettes from a lifetime of addiction to these lethal products and could dramatically reduce the number of current smokers who die from tobacco use. However, this potential can be realized only if the FDA takes concrete steps to implement a nicotine standard as promptly as possible.”
Link: www.lung.org/.../partners-letter-to-commissioner-gottlieb-tobacco-product-reg.pdf
