US FDA CTP - Jan. 2025 Reactions Part 2
Reduced-nicotine rule and MGO for ZYN
Today’s collection of reactions builds off of the one I posted yesterday. (I’m multi-tasking today and will edit yesterday’s post as I find new items while I create today’s post.)
This time, I’m examining headlines and looking for quotes from individuals shared by various online sources. Both FDA announcements have received widespread coverage. There is too much to cover all of it, so I will attempt to grab a few to give us a glimpse of the message being communicated to the public. There are many I can’t grab because I’m not a paid subscriber.
It will also be interesting to see who is quoted. Will this give us a balanced view of all perspectives?
If the individual represents an entity quoted in yesterday’s collection, I’m not including their quote in this collection unless they said something significantly different than what was previously stated. I will note that they’ve been quoted.
To prevent this post from becoming 100 miles long, I will also try to limit quoting the same individuals if more than one story quotes them, but I will note they’ve been mentioned. I will also most likely not include quotes from individuals from the FDA (They are quoted in just about every article).
VLNC Rule
ABC News - Mary Kekatos
AP - MATTHEW PERRONE
FDA floats plan to make cigarettes nonaddictive, but its fate rests with Trump.
“Tobacco regulation is a huge part of reaching the goals he’s outlined for reducing chronic disease and a really important part of the conversation we need to have in this country,” said Chrissie Juliano of the Big Cities Health Coalition, which represents the heads of more than 30 metropolitan health departments.”
“Altria, which sells both Marlboro cigarettes and NJOY e-cigarettes, said the FDA’s nicotine proposal will lead to illegal markets. The plan is “fundamentally flawed,” company spokesman David Sutton said in an email.”
CBS News - Alexander Tin
FDA moves to cut nicotine from cigarettes, in plan first floated under Trump.
“Progress during the Trump administration halted after then-FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stepped down from the agency, according to a former top-ranking official. "We had no champion. And the day came when I was told by political appointees at FDA to stop talking about menthol and nicotine in my speeches. And we were basically told to stop working on them," said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products from 2013 to 2022.” (Article contains more information from Zeller.)
NBC News - Erika Edwards
“While my preference would be that use of all of these products goes down, I do think that there is value in reducing harm by helping people avoid becoming addicted to cigarettes,” said Dr. Richard Besser, former acting CDC director and current president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation…It’s the tar and everything around the nicotine that poses the greatest risk to people’s health,” Besser said. “But nicotine is what hooks you.”
“Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who served as FDA commissioner during the first Trump administration, said the FDA proposal is “an important step in realizing a broader vision” of how the agency can use its authority to help smokers transition away from combustible cigarettes. Gottlieb added that adults who still want to access nicotine would have a market for “properly regulated, non-combustible products like pouches and e-cigarettes that don’t cause all the death and disease associated with smoking.”
Yolonda C. Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and Harold Wimmer, CEO of the American Lung Association, were also quoted.
NPR - Yuki Noguchi
Lower nicotine requirements in cigarettes could be coming soon.
“If it goes into effect, the new rule would upend the tobacco market, says David Spross, executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets. He argues it would simply push cigarette sales underground with smuggling of unregulated products across borders, for example.”
“While dramatic policy change is expected with the new administration, anti-smoking advocates like Dr. Giridhar Mallya, a senior policy officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, say limits on nicotine – and curtailing cigarette sales more generally – is consistent with the incoming president's campaign rhetoric.”
“That includes Cleveland, where the city's public health director Dr. David Margolius says heavy advertising and marketing have kept adult smoking rates at 35% – far above the national average of about 11%. "As a result we have one of the highest if not the highest rate of deaths from lung cancer in the United States and consequently we have a life expectancy in many of our neighborhoods in the mid-60s," Margolius says.”
Quotes: Erika Sward, assistant vice president of national advocacy at the American Lung Association and Luis Pinto, a spokesman for Reynolds American Inc.
tctMD - L.A. McKeown
FDA: Cutting Nicotine Levels Will Prevent Smoking-Related Death and Illness.
Quotes: American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown.
The Atlantic - Nicholas Florko
“Luis Pinto, a vice president at Reynolds American, which makes Camel and Newport cigarettes, told me in an email that the policy “would effectively eliminate legal cigarettes and fuel an already massive illicit nicotine market.” (Paywalled)
The Hill - Nathaniel Weixel
Quotes: Yolonda Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
The New York Times - Christina Jewett
White House Advances Last-Minute Push to Cut Nicotine in Cigarettes.
“We do have an extremely toxic and addictive product with cigarettes that remain on the marketplace, that still kills almost a half a million people a year,” said Dorothy Hatsukami, a tobacco researcher from the University of Minnesota who has studied low-nicotine cigarettes for about 15 years. “So it’s really kind of an unfortunate situation that we haven’t really done anything dramatically about it."
Quotes: Luis Pinto, a spokesman for Reynolds American and Yolonda C. Richardson, the president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
U.S. News & World Report - Steven Ross Johnson
Quotes: “Laurent Huber, executive director of anti-smoking advocacy organization, Action on Smoking and Health.”
USA Today - Ken Alltucker
FDA seeks to limit nicotine in cigarettes, most cigars. Vapes and Zyn are excluded.
“Anti-tobacco groups applauded the FDA's proposed nicotine limit but also said the nicotine limit doesn't go far enough.”
Quotes: The American Lung Association’s President and CEO Harold Wimmer.
ZYN MGO
AP - MATTHEW PERRONE
FDA OKs sales of Zyn nicotine pouches, citing health benefits for adult smokers.
“In late January, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, of New York, called on regulators to investigate Zyn, citing its appeal to teens. Several House Republicans then warned constituents that “Big Brother” intended to “ban nicotine.” Tucker Carlson and other conservative commentators are among the public figures who have embraced Zyn.”
Quotes: Yolonda Richardson, of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
BBC - Max Matza
(Only quotes FDA.)
FOX17 News
Doctor urges caution after FDA approves Zyn nicotine pouches.
“They are not saying that nicotine pouches are safe in by approving them,” says Dr. Brittany Tayler, MD. “They are saying that they are safer than cigarettes and other typical combustible tobacco products. You're thinking cigars, cigarillos, hookah, those sorts of things, and then nicotine … just are safer than those products, but not safe themselves."
“Dr. Tayler explains all products with nicotine have negative effects such as heart attacks, strokes and cancer.”
GENE Online - Mark Chiang
“The FDA’s seemingly divergent approaches—authorizing a nicotine product while simultaneously proposing to reduce nicotine in cigarettes—reflects the complex challenge of balancing harm reduction strategies with the need to address nicotine addiction.”
KHQA - JACKSON WALKER
FDA authorizes sale of Zyn nicotine pouches following 'extensive scientific review'.
"It's a pouch packed with problems – high levels of nicotine," Sen. Schumer said of Zyn. "So today, I'm delivering a warning to parents because these nicotine pouches seem to lock their sights on young kids, teenagers and even lower, and then use the social media to hook them."
“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., in 2024 called for a “zynsurrection” over a push to regulate the product. “This calls for a Zynsurrection!” Rep. Greene wrote via X. “The same Democrats that want to legalize all drugs and have ripped open our border flooding our country with fentanyl, a real weapon of mass destruction killing 300 Americans/day, wants to ban Zyn. Democrats are idiots.”
“Chuck Schumer should spend more time focusing on the fentanyl pouring across our southern border than trying to ban Zyn pouches,” a press account for Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla, wrote. “The Democrats' priorities are backwards.”
"Instead of securing the border, cracking down on fentanyl trafficking, or even funding the government, Leader Chuck Schumer is focused on banning gas stoves and #Zyn pouches,” Sen.Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., lamented. “Backwards as usual.”
NBC News - Rob Wile
FDA officially authorizes Zyn nicotine pouches for sale following health review.
“Swedish Match, the developer of Zyn, said in a statement, “The FDA’s authorization of all ZYN nicotine pouches currently marketed by Swedish Match in the U.S. is an important step to protect the public health by providing better alternatives to cigarettes and other traditional tobacco products for adults 21+.”
“The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids slammed the FDA's decision in a separate statement.”
NPR - Jaclyn Diaz
Zyn nicotine pouches can be marketed in the U.S., the FDA says. What does this mean?
(Only quotes FDA.)
Reuters - Juveria Tabassum, Savyata Mishra, and Emma Rumney
US FDA grants first market authorization of nicotine pouches to Zyn.
Quotes: Yolonda Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Roll Call - Sandhya Raman
“Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., shared an image of him holding a canister of Zyn on social media Thursday, following the announcement.”
STAT - Sarah Todd
FDA authorizes sale of Zyn nicotine pouches, saying public health benefits outweigh risk. (Paywalled)
UPI -
For first time, FDA approves marketing of nicotine pouch products.
Quotes: American Lung Association throughout the article.
WCVB 5 ABC - Erika Tarantal and Ben Simmoneau (Video)
Mass General for Children's Dr. Scott Hadland discusses FDA approval of new nicotine pouch.
He discusses risks and benefits, and as a pediatrician, he covers his concerns about youth use.
Whiskey Riff - Quinn Eaton
“That’s what you call a win for smokers trying to quit smoking cigarettes, and an even bigger victory for guys named “Chad” and “Brody” that simply can’t get enough of the Zyn life. The nicotine pouches have become a popular tobacco-free alternative to smoking, vaping, or chewing tobacco, and they’re undoubtedly the largest nicotine pouch brand on the market right now.”
Quotes: Chuck Schumer.
WHYY - Nicole Leonard
FDA regulation of nicotine pouches can help prevent youth use, say Rutgers researchers.
“I think they have great potential for harm reduction among people who are using more dangerous products, but I think we all agree that young people should not be using any type of nicotine,” said Mary Hrywna, founding member of the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies.”
WPG Talk Radio - Erin Vogt
“State lawmakers have already drafted legislation that would ban the sale of such flavored nicotine pouches in New Jersey.”
“Nicotine pouches were the focus of a call to action last month by the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies, published in Journal of the American Medical Association. Rutgers experts said the FDA should learn from the flood of unauthorized electronic-cigarette products and move quickly to regulate nicotine pouches — granting marketing orders for appropriate products and penalizing those who violate the law.
“The biggest concerns for nicotine pouch use among youth, as outlined by Yale Medicine, are the addictive nature of the stimulant and its effect on still-developing brains.”
Until next time…
PS: There is a possibility of a Part Three and a Part Four. I’m thinking of asking people for their thoughts on the nicotine rule and the marketing orders for Zyn. I have to think about it for a bit before I decide.