Corinne Husten

Understanding the Tobacco Control Act: efforts by the US Food and Drug Administration to make tobacco-related morbidity and mortality part of the USA's past, not its future

The USA has a rich history of public health efforts to reduce morbidity and mortality from tobacco use. Comprehensive tobacco-prevention programmes, when robustly implemented, reduce the prevalence of youth and adult smoking, decrease cigarette consumption, accelerate declines in tobacco-related deaths, and diminish health-care costs from tobacco-related diseases. Effective public health interventions include raising the price of tobacco products, smoke-free policies, counter-marketing campaigns, advertising restrictions, augmenting access to treatment for tobacco use through insurance coverage and telephone help lines, and comprehensive approaches to prevent children and adolescents from accessing tobacco products. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has six major areas of regulatory authority: regulation of tobacco products; regulation of the advertising, marketing, and promotion of tobacco products; regulation of the distribution and sales of tobacco products; enforcement of the provisions of the Tobacco Control Act and tobacco regulations; regulatory science to support FDA authorities and activities; and public education about the harms of tobacco products and to support FDA regulatory actions. With passing of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) in June, 2009, important new regulatory approaches were added to the tobacco prevention and control arsenal.

Symptoms of tobacco dependence among middle and high school tobacco users: results from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey.

BACKGROUND A growing body of evidence suggests that tobacco dependence symptoms can occur soon after smoking onset and with low levels of use. However, limited data are available nationally and among non-cigarette tobacco users. PURPOSE To examine the prevalence and determinants of tobacco dependence symptoms among adolescent tobacco users in the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally representative, school-based survey of U.S. middle and high school students. METHODS Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of dependence symptoms among current users (i.e., past 30-day use) of cigarettes, cigars, or smokeless tobacco. Analyses were conducted in 2013 using SAS-callable SUDAAN, version 11 to account for the complex survey design. RESULTS Prevalence of tobacco dependence symptoms ranged from 20.8% (95% CI=18.6, 23.1) of current tobacco users reporting wanting to use tobacco within 30 minutes of waking to 41.9% (95% CI=39.3, 44.5) reporting recent strong cravings. Reporting of dependence symptoms was most consistently associated with polytobacco use, higher frequency of use, earlier initiation age, and female gender. A 2-4-fold increase in the odds of symptom reporting was found in adolescents using tobacco products on as few as 3-5 days compared to those who only used it for 1-2 of the past 30 days. CONCLUSIONS A substantial proportion of U.S. adolescent tobacco users, including those with low levels of use, report symptoms of tobacco dependence. These findings demonstrate the need for full implementation of evidence-based strategies to prevent both experimentation and progression to regular tobacco use among youth.

Introduction to tobacco control supplement

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have recently gained significant attention in the marketplace and in the media. However, limited information is available about the worldwide impact of e-cigarettes; most public health officials are calling for more data so they can more fully understand the potential risks and benefits of e-cigarettes in order to inform regulatory action. In the USA, e-cigarettes that are marketed as tobacco products are not currently regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, having a continuum of nicotine-containing products that cross jurisdictional lines within the FDA in the future would create the potential (and the need) for a comprehensive nicotine strategy at the FDA. As part of developing the most appropriate approach to e-cigarette regulation, FDA Center for Tobacco Products scientists have been reviewing the available literature to determine the state of e-cigarette knowledge and have identified research areas that could be addressed. This supplement provides a summary of the current knowledge and research gaps pertaining to e-cigarettes with regards to product design, chemistry and toxicology of e-liquid and aerosol constituents, human factor-based risk factors, abuse liability, clinical pharmacology and human health effects, paediatric issues, and environmental issues.