FDA Forces Philip Morris to Hand Over Research Docs

In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has demanded that cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris hands over all the market research it has conducted or possesses on how consumers react to the firm's planned changes to Marlboro Lights packaging.

The FDA is about to introduce a ban on promoting cigarettes as 'light', 'mild', or 'low-tar'; saying that the implication of these terms is that these cigarette brands are less harmful.

To evade the new ruling, Philip Morris has attached 'onserts' to its Marlboro Lights packs that state, 'Your Marlboro Lights pack is changing. But your cigarette stays the same. In the future, ask for Marlboro in the gold pack'.

In addition to the onserts, Philip Morris and other tobacco companies are using lighter-colored packaging for 'light' brands and have switched to terms such as 'gold' and 'silver' to replace 'light' and 'ultra-light' to dodge the ban.

In a letter to Philip Morris, the FDA has demanded that the firm produces all documents relating to the firm's market research - whether qualitative, empirical or otherwise - on consumer perceptions about the gold packages and the health risks of the cigarettes inside.

These documents could include those relating to consumers' concerns, beliefs, perceptions, understandings, thoughts or impressions about the new pack, onsert, or other related marketing materials.

Additionally, the firm will have to hand over any documentation relating to research conducted on the correlation between the color or word 'gold' and taste; perceptions about the yields of tar, nicotine, or other tobacco constituents; or health risk or product harm.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.