United States President Donald Trump has unveiled his budget for Fiscal Year 2021. As a part of his proposed budget, it calls for moving the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), the part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that regulates tobacco products, into its own agency. The proposed idea would allow the new agency to focus on tobacco products.
Below is the language in the proposed Trump budget around the proposed new agency:
Reforms Oversight of Tobacco Products. The Budget proposes to move the Center for Tobacco Products out of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and create a new agency within HHS to focus on tobacco regulation. This new agency would be led by a Senate-confirmed Director in order to increase direct accountability and more effectively respond to this critical area of public health concern. A new agency with the singular mission on tobacco and its impact on public health would have greater capacity to respond strategically to the growing complexity of new tobacco products. In addition, this reorganization would allow the FDA Commissioner to focus on its traditional mission of ensuring the safety of the Nation’s food and medical products supply.
This is not good news for tobacco and in particular the premium cigar industry. Up until now, the premium cigar industry has benefitted from the agency having too much on its plate. Most recently the FDA even said premium cigars are a lower priority. The establishment of a new agency could change this prioritization.
