Star Scientific Wants New Designation its New Smokeless Tobacco

The tobacco manufacturer will ask the FDA to approve its Stonewall Moist-BDL as being less harmful than other tobacco forms.

January 05, 2011

RICHMOND, Va. - Star Scientific Inc. will seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its new smokeless tobacco product as being safer than similar products, the Associated Press reports. The company is planning on submitting its Stonewall Moist-BDL as a candidate for a "modified risk" label under development at the agency.

In a press release, Star Scientific said Stonewall Moist-BDL "is 99 percent lower than the levels found in conventional American moist snuffs??and 90 percent less than the level found in current 'snus?? products."

The tobacco maker said it was the first to ask for FDA approval under the agency??s "modified risk" label.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that smokeless tobacco has 28 cancer-causing ingredients and therefore is not safe. However, the U.K.??s Royal College of Physicians 2007 report seemed to find that some smokeless tobacco products were not as harmful as cigarettes.

Curtis Wright, senior vice president and clinical director for Star Scientific's subsidiary Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, said Stonewall Moist-BDL could "substantially" lower how many carcinogens with which users of moist tobacco come in contact. Star Scientific has submitted two dissolvable tobacco products to the FDA seeking similar designations.

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