The tobacco, vaping and convenience industry largely focused on the positive aspects of the FDA’s new tobacco plans, welcoming the agency’s embrace of innovation and harm reduction.
“If we can put a man on the moon, we can deliver tobacco to people with less risk than smoking,” said Debra Crew, CEO of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Reynolds American Inc., during the Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum in New York.
Marty Barrington, chairman, CEO and president of Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc., echoed such enthusiasm in a November call to investors, stating “we have been building a portfolio of the leading platforms of noncombustible, nicotine-containing products for adult tobacco consumers, as well as preparing the scientific case for obtaining regulatory authorizations for them.”