As the cigar industry awaits FDA’s new guidelines for the regulation of the products they make, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., wants to put a timeline on that announcement being made. Yesterday, Blumenthal announced his intention to get FDA to finalize its deeming regulations on premium cigars, e-cigarettes and all unregulated tobacco products by the end of summer. If that doesn’t happen, Blumenthal said that he will introduce legislation to force the issue. The comments came during an event hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research and were reported by The Hill. The senator has not yet posted his comments or a statement about the matter on his website or social media channels. There is speculation that FDA might want to wait to make the announcement until a new commissioner can be appointed. Dr. Margaret Hamburg stepped down as commissioner in March 2015, with Dr. Stephen Ostroff, FDA’s Chief Scientist, named Acting Commissioner until a new commissioner is nominated and approved.
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