Senators Urge FDA to Reject "Legally Defective" And "Factually Unjustified" Application for Modified, Inaccurate Warning-Label on Swedish Match's Tobacco Snuff Products

Press Release

U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to promptly reject Swedish Match Tobacco Company's application to market their snus products as "modified risk tobacco products" -- an action, the senators stated, that would inadequately warn and mislead consumers about the serious health risks of using the product. The senators vehemently rejected Swedish Match's argument that snus -- a powered tobacco derived from snuff -- presented substantially lower health risks than cigarettes and therefore deserved a modified risk claim.

In the letter to the Director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, the senators stated: "Smokeless tobacco products have too often been promoted by tobacco companies as a way to avoid quitting smoking. A misleading warning label could encourage former smokers to start using snus. Moreover, a reduced risk warning label could mislead non-tobacco users into believing that the health risks posed by these products are negligible and thus result in an increase in initiation by non-users, particularly young people."

The letter also cited results from the FDA's Tobacco Safety Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) meeting earlier this month where there was unanimous agreement among the committee that Swedish Match's proposed warning label did not effectively communicate snus products' potential health risks. "These conclusions echo troubling findings from other sources indicating that Swedish snus products increase the risk of fatal heart attacks and stillbirths and, according to some studies, may increase the risk of pancreatic and esophageal cancer," they wrote.

This letter follows the release of a new CDC study reporting that e-cigarette use among teenagers has tripled over the past year as well as results from a poll showing that Americans strongly support FDA regulation of tobacco products and limits on e-cigarettes.