The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7274 p637
8 November 2003

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Tobacco regulatory authority call

Eleven charities and other bodies with an interest in health have called on the Government to set up a tobacco regulatory authority. Their call echoes a report in 2000 by the House of Commons Health Select Committee which also proposed a regulatory authority for tobacco products.

In a letter to the Secretary of State for Health, Dr John Reid, the 11 bodies contrast the largely unregulated availability of cigarettes — which they describe as the most deadly form of nicotine delivery — with the strict regulation of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and bans on less harmful tobacco products.

Professor Sian Griffiths, chairman of PharmacyHealthLink said: “There is a total lack of consistency within the current regulatory framework. The lethal cigarette dominates the market while cleaner nicotine alternatives, such as NRT, are highly regulated and tobacco products that are less harmful than cigarettes, such as oral snuff, are banned.”