PALO ALTO, Calif., Tuesday, August 31st 2010 [ME NewsWire]:
Companies Co-Petition FDA to Ban Marketing Practices that Suppress Reduced Harm Products. Seeks Minimum Replenishment of alpha-Tocopherol (vitamin E) in Cigarettes. Asks FDA for Recognition of Replenishment of alpha-Tocopherol as a Potential Modified Risk Product.
(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ETOBACCO LLC, petitioning the FDA, was founded as an international marketing licensee to launch vitamin E replenished ℮® brand cigarettes. Phenomenal consumer acceptance of ℮® brand cigarettes raised Big Tobacco’s ire. They drove the replenishment innovation out of the marketplace with two exclusionary marketing practices that the Petition requests the FDA ban by regulation
ETOBACCO LLC stated Big Tobacco targeted, in a predatory manner, ℮® brand retail placements with free cigarettes to retailers to create “Buy one get one free” whereby ETOBACCO LLC could not compete with half-off discounting. Secondly, Big Tobacco, through marketing contracts, financially punishes distributors and retailers who do not maintain Big Tobacco’s specific percentage market share in each retail outlet. The threatened financial punishment to even small retail chains can be from hundreds of thousands to many millions of dollars. Philip Morris and R. J. Reynolds wield this power to suppress new products in the cigarette market.
John Czerewko, EVP of ETOBACCO LLC and an experienced tobacco marketer, said “When we launched ℮® brand it took a great amount of time, money and quite frankly, hard work, to get our placements. A whopping 95% of smokers who tried ℮® cigarettes favored it over their brand. It is impossible to introduce a potential modified risk product to smokers with these Big Tobacco practices that suppress potential benefits and innovation for smokers. Millions of ℮® cigarettes were beneficially smoked and the benefits for smokers literally got snuffed out. Big Tobacco has a stranglehold on retailers and consumers. Only the FDA can remedy this.” Perhaps blogs and tweets will weigh in to support FDA action.
Joseph Russo, Chairman & CEO of Rousseau Research, Inc., also a co-petitioner, said “There is precedent for the FDA to ban these marketing practices since Germany does not allow these practices.” Does Germany protect their citizens better than the U.S.?
Tobacco smoke and its condensates are known to cause long term chronic irritation. There is evidence and the causal relationship is well known that chronic irritation damages tissues. Damaged tissues create a breeding ground for cancers and other diseases.
The a-tocopherol replenished cigarettes reduced and/or eliminated “smoker’s hangover”, smoker’s cough and throat/voice raspiness/hoarseness. Tobacco smoke odor is also reduced. The odor was so low that one wife thought her husband had stopped smoking!
Mr. Russo said, “With over 7000 chemical constituents in tobacco smoke the complexity is so great that researchers are concluding the removal of a few known toxins does not accomplish much.” He stated, “A more yielding answer to harm reduction primarily lies in mediating the totality of irritation-inducing chemical moieties involved in tobacco use. Smoke and its condensates create the chemical assault that causes chronic irritation. The irritated tissues create their own biochemical moieties in defense, beginning with response to irritation and then these are immediately complexed with damage repair moieties. Thus, the ongoing environment of chronic irritation, chronic biochemical defense to the irritation and chronic repair all becomes overwhelming to the body. This may well be the major tobacco related disease process.”
In addition to the abusive marketing bans, the Petition to the FDA asks that a minimum microgram standard be set to require a-tocopherol replenishment in all US sold cigarettes and to recognize replenished ℮® brand cigarettes as a potential modified risk product.
Rousseau Research, Inc. holds the worldwide patent rights to the replenishment technology for USA, Canada, Mexico, EU (valid in UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain), Switzerland, Russian Federation, China, India, Eurasia, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, South Africa and pending in other countries.
For full and further details see the FDA Petition at www.etobacco.com or www.regulations.gov for Petition docket No. FDA-2010-P-0376-0001/CP
About Rousseau Research, Inc. - RRI is a Silicon Valley (Palo Alto, California) R&D materials science, ideas and intellectual property company. It holds patents in eclectic fields such as tobacco, medical packaging, coatings and pending in nano technology.
About ETOBACCO LLC- ET, Troy, MI is the worldwide marketing licensee for E replenishment of tobacco products. Dan Jenuwine, COO John Czerewko, EVP www.etobacco.com
For media enquiries, please contact:
ETOBACCO LLC
For FDA Petition, Technology,
Licensing and Partnering Questions:
Joseph Russo, + 650-949-4510
For Operations and Fulfillment Questions:
Dan Jenuwine, + 248-760-1280
For Launch/Placement History,
Marketing and Product/Consumer Questions:
John Czerewko, + 248-321-4759
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