FDA opens new Center for Tobacco Products

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Well, not really for tobacco products.

The center -- its opening was announced today -- will deal with the agency’s new powers over tobacco products. The powers stem from the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in June. The center ‘will use the best available science to guide the development and implementation of effective public health strategies to reduce the burden of illness and death caused by tobacco products,’ according to a release by the FDA.

The center will be led by Dr. Lawrence Dayton, formerly chief public health and environmental hazards officer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. One of the programs he oversaw there was on curbing tobacco use among veterans. The American Lung Assn. applauded this choice in a statement of its own.

If you want to read up on the law, go back and look at a Q&A put together by staff writer Melissa Healy that we ran in June. And read several opinions on the law here.

-- Rosie Mestel

Photo credit: Times file photo