Lawmakers Mull Guidelines for Marketing ‘Safer’ Cigarettes

A Congressional committee heard testimony last week on marketing guidelines for “safer” cigarettes as the U.S. House of Representatives mulls legislation to let the Food & Drug Administration regulate lower-risk tobacco products.

The outcome will affect tobacco companies’ marketing options and could pave the way for an aggressive push behind new tobacco products. Some marketers want the FDA as an advocate; meanwhile, anti-smoking advocates warn that lax marketing could mislead consumers about the safety of smoking.

Philip Morris USA CEO Mike Szymanczyk urged the House Government Reform Committee to put the FDA in charge of regulating new tobacco products—an about-face that New York City-based PM made last year from its past stance against government oversight.

“The FDA will be in a position to help us evaluate whether our product development efforts are actually reducing the risk of tobacco-related diseases among current smokers,” Szymanczyk said. “We strongly agree that the federal government should help determine what is, and what is not, a ‘reduced exposure’ or ‘reduced risk’ tobacco product.”

But health advocates warned the committee against labeling and marketing that could mislead consumers to think that “light” cigarettes pose no health risk. And a report presented by Reps. Henry Waxman (D, CA) and Janice Schakowsky (D, IL) found similarities between consumer misperceptions of “light” and “low-tar” cigarettes introduced in the late 1960s and “reduced risk” tobacco products in test or launch today. Health claims about new “reduced risk” products have too little government oversight, they argue: “The unregulated promotion of ‘reduced risk’ products threatens to undermine smoking cessation (which is proven to save lives), cause former smokers to resume their addiction, and even attract young people to tobacco products.”

The Federal Trade Commission—which oversees marketing claims for all product—stook umbrage with claims for “no additive” and herbal cigarettes, issuing consent orders against several tobacco companies in 1999 and 2000. FTC Chairman Timothy Muris said the FTC would use the same guidelines it uses for all marketing claims to judge “harm reduction claims” for lower-risk tobacco: Would reasonable consumers think that reduced risk means minimal (or no) risk? “Consumers may be injured if advertisers make harm reduction claims that turn out to be untrue or that exaggerate the benefits or safety of their products,” Muris told the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.