Star Scientific Inc. has recently filled a request to the Food and Drug Administration to get a formal allowance to advertise its smokeless tobacco troches as safer products, establishing a major examination for the FDA’s latest authority over tobacco industry.

The company, a small-scale business headquartered in Richmond, produces two smokeless tobacco brands. Several days ago it announced that it has submitted a request to FDA to promote its modified variety of Ariva brand as a reduced-risk item. If the FDA agreed, Star could begin marketing the new product as possessing lower amount of chemicals and thus being less dangerous than other tobacco goods. The FDA spokesperson denied commenting upon the Star’s application.

Star has been manufacturing Ariva, a smokeless tobacco product, resembling troches and produced from flavored tobacco, for nearly a decade. In addition, Star has claimed that their innovative approach to tobacco curing and processing has permitted to decrease the amount of nitrosamines, a particular type of carcinogens related to tobacco.

The latter application to the federal agency could be the first of dozens tobacco industry will fill to get an approval to market smokeless tobacco as less harmful than other tobacco products, like cigarettes.

Altria Group Inc., owner of Philip Morris USA, the largest tobacco company in the country, which sells Marlboros and other U.S. brands, has recently announced they would focus their efforts on smokeless tobacco and admitted the FDA has to consider smokeless items as less risky than cigarettes.

Several public health scientists have agreed with tobacco industry that the FDA should begin treating these products by the point of what they are produced from, whether they carry lower health risks and how they should be marketed.

Last year, President Barack Obama signed a law to provide the Food and Drug Administration with the authority to oversee tobacco products. The Act establishes requirements a product should comply with to be eligible to be named reduced risk product.

Under the Tobacco Control Act the FDA has to identify whether a certain product would essentially decrease the jeopardy of health complications related to the consumption of this product to tobacco consumers. The agency as well has to determine that this particular product would improve the health of nation as a whole, taking into consideration both tobacco consumers and those who do not consume it, in compliance with the law.

Though Star Scientific reported a sales growth in 2009, sales in smokeless tobacco segment are still small with nearly $4 billion last year. Star that has been working at no profit during the last several years, reported in its latest revenues conference that net revenues from their smokeless tobacco reached $600,000 for the year to September, 2009, in comparison to $300,000 reported from the same nine months of 2008.

The Food and Drug Administration that is in the process of establishing its new department, Center for Tobacco Products, has requested Star Scientific to reveal the scientific data related to the consumption of their products.

By Steve Shepherd, Staff Writer. Copyright © 2010 Cigarette-Store.org. All rights reserved.