FDA Tobacco Legislation es First Congressional Hurdle
The Food and Drug istration could one day be in charge of regulating all tobacco products sold in the United States, including cigars. House Resolution HR 1108, which would give the FDA the jurisdiction to regulate tobacco, was ed 38-12 last week by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The leaders of the cigar industry are divided in opinion over the bill. Theo Folz, president and chief executive officer of Altadis U.S.A. Inc., announced that his company opposed the legislation during a presentation on the state of the cigar market at last week's meeting of the Tobacconists' Association of America in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Altadis's largest U.S. competitor, General Cigar Co., s the bill. At the tobacconists meeting General vice president and general counsel Gerry Roerty said the company felt that future bills would only be worse for the cigar industry.
For more on this story, see today's Cigar Insider.
