WASHINGTON -- With the recent Senate confirmation of Dr. Scott Gottlieb to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), tobacco retailers are hopeful that federal regulation and oversight of the category could ease.
Gottlieb, 44, has ties to electronic cigarettes, having invested in Kure Corp., an e-cigarette company based in Charlotte, N.C. Because of those ties, he has recused himself from commenting on vaping regulation for a year. Still, articles he has written for Forbes and other publications show an openness to harm-reduction arguments presented by vaping proponents.
This would potentially conflict with the views of the current head of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Mitch Zeller, who has taken many antitobacco viewpoints since the FDA gained oversight of the category last year.
Here are some ways Gottlieb could reshape the FDA's position on tobacco products …