Fda's Influence On The Tobacco Industry

Big tobacco is losing in a war for the public to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and The Truth Initiative. Big tobacco being the large tobacco companies in the world like Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International, and China Tobacco. The CDC is a government operated agency that contributes to the overall health of the public. The Truth Initiative is the largest non-profit public health organization in the U.S. whose goal is to inspire tobacco free lives. Not only is Big tobacco losing, they may have already lost.

Food and drug administration is a department of U.S health and human services. It’s responsibility is to test the safety and efficacy of new drugs entering the market as well as to make sure that these medicines are quickly accessible to people. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act has been passed in 1938 to ensure that foods other than meat, poultry and fish are clinically hygienic and safe to eat. This act also requires that the food should be labelled according to its content. (FDA.org) Drugs and tobacco are also regulated by FDA and in 1996, FDA strictly regulated the use of tobacco products like nicotine, cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, by children and adolescents because of the increase in diseases prevalence and tobacco addiction. Annually 40000 deaths are attributable to its use and most of them are of premature. Therefore the goal of FDA is to stop the tobacco addiction by minors and prevent the deaths and diseases due to nicotine addiction. (FDA vs Brown, n.d) This essay will cover the food and drug administration’s role in under and over regulating drugs and medicines and how it effects our economy, health care system and patients health and safety.

When information was released to the public in 1939, tobacco companies found ways to discredit, and silence the public concern. In fact, previous to this tobacco manufacturers claimed an increase in health and medicinal properties for tobacco products. With the formation of the Council for Tobacco Research, in 1954, a direct link was sought between smoking and health related problems. Upon the finding of such evidence major cigarette manufacturers unite.

John Doe is an 18-year-old resident, Colorado. He’s active in his community and volunteers through the local public library, he’s a genuinely nice guy, and he’s a smoker. A few months ago, John Doe decided that he wanted to minimize his health risks from smoking cigarettes, so he switched to a new alternative: an e-cigarette. Electronic cigarettes contain no tobacco, and vaporize a vegetable glycerol fluid that contains nicotine, mimicking the feeling of smoking a burn cigarette without the tar, dangerous gases, and unpleasant smell (Block). In most states, smokers can “vape” in public places with their e-cigarettes, receiving the nicotine of a burn cigarette without complaint from others. Heavy smokers find that they can use e-cigarettes to gradually decrease nicotine and many use it as a gateway to quit smoking. Yet in the absence of regulation, sale of e-cigarettes to minors is only prohibited in twelve states (Lopes), and this is a definite problem. Adolescents may see vaping as a cool new thing to do and become addicted to nicotine. The lack of regulation in the e-cigarette industry especially contributes to this, as companies create appealing advertisements displaying a variety of new flavors. Furthermore, without Food and Drug Administration (FDA) screening, e-cigarette ingredients are unregulated and this could lead to unsafe or downright harmful products.

The tobacco industry has one of the most unethical approaches when it comes to marketing and social responsibility in business. Tobacco has been around for many years and despite its dangerous effects on consumers their marketing approach and unethical behavior does not seem to be changing. Tobacco companies have also failed to live up to social responsibilities in the communities regardless of its capital gains and profit.

In Vanguard’s documentary, Sex, Lies, and Cigarettes: Secrets of the Tobacco Industry by director, Alex Simmons, Vanguard sends correspondent, Christof Putzel to Jakarta, Indonesia to investigate the tobacco industry there. The documentary talks about how America no longer allows cigarette and tobacco ads and commercials, instead the country focuses scare tactic ads that stop people from smoking or keeps them from starting. The tobacco industry is losing millions of dollars in America so they’re moving overseas to poorer countries like Indonesia to make their money there. Putzel goes to see what all the tobacco industry is doing and how they’re corrupting the young people like ‘the smoking baby’, Aldi, as well as students of the country.

As the world moves into the 21st century the drug that once funded nations is starting to die off; not due to pestilence but due to increased knowledge of how it harms the body. Tobacco once ruled the world; now in the digital age a new way to inhale smoke has come into being. Electronic Cigarettes, or e-cigs as they are more commonly known, have become very popular in recent years. The act of inhaling vapor (or vaping) has become a social norm; much like smoking a cigarette was just a few years ago. But with an increase in public usage the FDA must make a decision.

The Tobacco Products Control Act of 1989 sought to impose restrictions on the promotion of tobacco products. These restrictions concerned limitations in three commercial categories: advertisement, promotion, and labelling. Under the Act, tobacco products cannot be advertised, and products must be labeled with viable health warnings and a list of toxins. The packaging must be minimal, as to not be ostentatious to persuade Canadians from buying. Furthermore, the Act would prohibit the distribution of free samples. Appellants RJR-Macdonald Inc. dissented, stating the Act was a direct infringement upon the Charter’s s.2 freedom of expression clause, and appellant Imperial Tobacco Ltd. further dissented.

There was a recent ruling that made the media headlines that shows how important the rulings of the FDA are to the public. On March 18, 2010 new rules were announced that have a strict impact on the way that the tobacco industry can sell and market smokeless products and cigarettes. In particular the advertising that targets the nation’s youth population. That law that takes effect on June 22,

Many different small industries were implemented but they were unable to stay successful and/or make enough money. The economy stayed the low and remained the same until the introduction of tobacco as a “cash crop” in 1614. This crop became the main source of income for England in the New World and ensured the establishment and survival of the newly founded colony. Soon after the establishment of tobacco as a successful cash crop, the first Africans were brought over to Virginia from Angola, Africa. These African- Americans were known as the “20 and odd” on an English war ship known as “White Lion”. They were very valuable to the people in Virginia and were needed to work in the new tobacco fields to increase the amount of Tobacco produced,

If any more proof was needed of the power that goes along with the money in the tobacco industry, it was given last May. The FDA has finally put their say into the business of the biggest and most threatening competition the tobacco industry has ever had. And the results were down right pathetic.

The main ethical concerns involving tobacco is well known to educated Americans; however, the ethics around the marketing aspects of tobacco, especially tobacco exposure to children, are less talked about. Some of the early marketing decisions of tobacco can be traced back to one of the most renowned and valuable cigarette brands in the world, Marlboro. Marlboro first emerged onto the tobacco scene at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They originally were a cigarette brand with a female-based target market. Marlboros were considered feminine cigarettes because they had filters, which were very unpopular for men at the time because the purpose of the filter was to protect a woman’s lipstick so that the tobacco leaves would never actually make contact with the mouth or lips. In the 1950s a scientific study came out that linked smoking to lung cancer, and that is where the ethical problems begin with tobacco companies. The ethical health concerns of ciggerrets were not the only issue. Marketing right after the release of detrimental research, companies like Marlboro became manipulative and misleading with their advertising. Advertising that also was used to target children and establish lifetime customers. Now, in the twenty-first century, the E-cigarettes and other new technology products have creates new aspects to the ethical dilemmas involving cigarettes. The ethical dilemma of smoking, health concerns, children, and technology, will all be assessed to establish the

The lack of regulation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on electronic cigarette products is creating a desire for state and local governments to enact laws aimed to address their usage (Balakit, 2014). In Maryland, House Bill 0026, Clean Indoor Air Act – Use of Electronic Smoking Devices – Prohibition, was intended to make the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), “battery-operated devices that contain nicotine cartridges and other chemicals,” illegal in public places (Subramaniam, 2015, p. 2). This would be consistent with the 2007 legislation that prohibited the use of traditional cigarette or other tobacco products that elicit smoke in public places. On February 11, 2015, the Economic Matters Committee heard both

SB 151/AB-8 seeks to decrease tobacco addiction in California by severely limiting youth access to tobacco products by increasing the age of sale for tobacco products to 21 years old. Adolescent brains are more prone to tobacco addiction and by the age of 21, if a person is a non-smoker, they are less likely to become a smoker. This bill is an extension to current legislature, the STAKE Act, which prohibits sale of tobacco products to persons under age of 18 years old. There have been proven negative health effects due to smoking and have contributed to the increase in health care costs due to smoking-related-illnesses.

They can be found in almost any store, right behind the register after a grocery list has been completed. Tobacco companies are multi-billion dollar industries that thrive on the addiction of its consumers. The United States government should take control of tobacco companies and ban the marketing, production, and sales of tobacco. This is because health issues contributed to the use of tobacco products are overwhelmingly high; they’re very addictive; the effects of second-hand smoke are as harmful as smoking itself; and an alarming percentage of the market research is geared towards teens and young adults.