Camel Crush Bold, Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter, Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter Menthol and Vantage Tech 13 cigarettes can no longer be sold, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced. The four brands are sold by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., a division of Reynolds American Inc.
Under the 2009 Tobacco Control Act, new cigarettes must be reviewed by the FDA before being allowed on the market and products introduced after Feb. 15, 2007 must show substantially equivalent harm to a baseline "predicate" product. The FDA says the four products are different enough from predicates to raise concern, because they have higher levels of menthol and new ingredients which are harmful or potentially harmful.
As Reuters notes, products introduced after Feb. 15, 2007 were allowed to be sold on a provisional basis as long as the manufacturer submitted an application by March 22, 2011. The agency has authorized 257 applications and denied 113.
Retailers will have 30 days to get rid of existing inventory.