Other Announcements

General

Call for Papers: Training and Technical Assistance Lessons Learned to Sustain Social Norm Changes in Tobacco Control
The Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium (TTAC) is pleased to announce the Call for Papers to a special theme issue of Health Promotion Practice: Training and Technical Assistance Lessons Learned to Sustain Social Norm Changes in Tobacco Control. We strongly encourage all interested authors to review the suggested topics and submit papers for peer-review. The creation of this theme issue is the result of a collaboration between Legacy, TTAC and the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE). Click here for further information, or contact Madeleine Solomon at msolom3@emory.edu.

Sebelius announces new $250 million investment to lay foundation for prevention and public health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced the allocation of $250 million in investments designed to support prevention activities and develop the country’s public health infrastructure. The investments are the second allocation in the 2010 fiscal year from the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the Affordable Care Act. The money will be distributed as follows: $126 million to community and clinical prevention including the integration of primary care services and community-based health settings, obesity prevention, and tobacco cessation; $70 million to public health infrastructure at the state, local, and federal level and capacity building for infectious disease prevention, detection, and response; $31 million to research and tracking for data collection and analysis; and $23 million to public health training to expand public health workforce programs and training centers. Read more about the investments here.

Office on Smoking and Health on Twitter
Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) can now be followed on Twitter. Follow “CDCTobaccofree” to get notices and alerts from OSH, including links to new publications and resources. Click to follow CDCTobaccofree on Twitter.

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FDA Announcements

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dockets for public comment
As it moves to implement the Tobacco Control Act, the FDA Center for Tobacco Products has been issuing a series of dockets designed to gather information from stakeholders on specific tobacco control issues. Click here for more information on the dockets and how to comment on them. There are currently two opportunities for the public to submit data and information to FDA:

• Tobacco Product Advertising and Promotion to Youth and Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations
  This docket requests information about the marketing of menthol and other cigarettes to youth and youth in minority communities. The close date is July 26.
   
• Impact of Dissolvable Tobacco Use on Public Health
  This docket requests information, research, and ideas on how dissolvable tobacco products could impact public health. The deadline for public comments is September 18.

Food and Drug Administration: Guidance, compliance & regulatory information
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products has released several guidance documents and draft guidance documents this month. Guidance documents are intended to communicate FDA’s current ideas on a particular topic, and are considered recommendations instead of legally-binding documents. Click here for the complete list of tobacco guidance documents. New documents are available regarding the enforcement and restriction of selling tobacco to minors, rotational warning labels for smokeless tobacco products, the listing of harmful or potentially harmful components in tobacco products, and the use of particular descriptors in tobacco product labeling and advertising:

• Guidance for Industry: Enforcement Policy Concerning Rotational Warning Plans for Smokeless Tobacco Products
   
• Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff: Use of ‘Light,’ ‘Mild,’ ‘Low,’ or Similar Descriptors in the Label, Labeling, or Advertising of Tobacco Products
   
• Draft Guidance for Industry: Compliance with Regulations Restricting the Sale and Distribution of Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco To Protect Children and Adolescents
   
• Draft Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff: ‘Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents’ in Tobacco Products as Used in Section 904(e) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products 2009–2010: Inaugural Year in Review
In this report, FDA presents updates regarding the steps that have been taken to initiate tobacco product regulation and to implement the Tobacco Control Act. The report also describes what can be expected in the coming year, including restrictions on potentially misleading marketing terms for tobacco products and mandatory new warning labels for smokeless tobacco products. Click here to download the document.

FDA resources for retailers
FDA is committed to educating retailers, industry and consumers about the new tobacco regulations and the health risks of tobacco use. Retailers are encouraged to view the FDA’s Break the Chain of Tobacco Addiction Educational Campaign for tools and tips for retailers and partners. To help spread the word about the latest FDA tobacco news, health risks of tobacco use, and the benefits of not using tobacco, organizations can add the FDA’s Tobacco Regulations, Education, Prevention & Control Widget to their website.

FDA to launch discussion series
The FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) will launch a Stakeholder Discussion Series in 2010. The listening sessions will focus on a variety of topics, and will consist of presentations from topic experts and the FDA, followed by facilitated discussions among participants. These conversations will help the CTP to more effectively implement its authority over tobacco marketing and sales by taking full advantage of the knowledge and ideas from all communities interested in and affected by tobacco product regulation. FDA will post a schedule of the sessions in the next few months. For a list of potential topics and stakeholders, or to sign up for an email notification service for regular updates, click here.

New FDA Tobacco Ideas website
On the new FDA Tobacco Ideas website, the FDA Center for Tobacco Products is asking the public to help identify the best approaches to reach retailers with information about Federal tobacco product regulations. For example, in May and early June 2010, ideas were sought regarding messages and channels – digital, mobile, and traditional. Future forums will be posted to get input on FDA tobacco communication efforts. Web site visitors can view past forums, and subscribe to an RSS newsfeed to receive updates. Click here to visit the new website.

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