Tobacco Products Exclusion from FDA Jurisdiction Sought

Tobacco Products Exclusion from FDA Jurisdiction Sought
by Jamael Jacob
 
About to be passed is a bill converting the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) in to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Once implemented, the law will grant the FDA a wide range of powers and functions over the products under its jurisdiction (i.e., require graphic health warnings). Among them are tobacco products, like cigarettes.

The proposed law is already before a bicameral committee, which is tasked with ironing out the substantial distinctions between the Senate version and that of the House of Representatives.

In a surprise move, Sen. Loren Legarda, the new Health Committee Chair at the Senate, proposed an amendment to the bill excluding tobacco products, among other things (also, sugar and coconut), from the coverage of the bill.

Her reason: there is already RA 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act, which covers tobacco products. Accordingly, there is the Inter-agency Committee on Tobacco (IAC-T) to implement RA 9211.

Perhaps it was only through inadvertent oversight, but the Senator’s reason appears to be not only flimsy, but actually grounded on false assumptions.

The FDA bill's coverage is significantly different from that of RA 9211. Also, the IAC-T's powers (if any) pales in comparison to that of the FDA. For instance, while the FDA can impose administrative sanctions, the IAC-T can only assist private complainants in filing criminal complaints against erring tobacco companies. What's worse, the tobacco industry is actually PART of the IAC-T.

FCAP has opted to act on this matter by quickly submitting a position paper on the proposed amendment, to the office of Sen. Pia Cayetano, the former Health Committee Chair at the Senate, and the office of Hon. Arthur Pingoy, Jr. Both legislators are members of the bicameral committee going over the proposed law.

DOH Undersecretary Alexander Padilla was also notified of FCAP’s position and was given a copy of the organization’s position paper. He subsequently sent a letter to Sen. Pia Cayetano, which adopted to a great extent the majority of the points raised by FCAP in its paper.

As of this writing, FCAP is still closely monitoring the developments regarding this bill.