The second meeting of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) Scientific Advisory Committee is held on 15 and 16 July 2010 to discuss menthol and dissolvable tobacco products.

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) committee hears industry presentations on how menthol is used in cigarettes, health effects, marketing efforts and impacts on specific groups of people.

Click here to view the full video of the 15 July meeting.

Click here to view the full video of the 16 July meeting.

Last week, U.S. Food & Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg made headlines when she told an FDA science panel to "follow the science wherever it leads and the rest will fall into place."
With Hamburg's words on the screen beside him, a Lorillard Tobacco Co. scientist on Friday called upon the FDA's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee to employ a "truly science-based, data-driven" process in its evaluation of menthol in cigarettes.

Click here to view the full meeting agenda.

The advisory committee is expected to hold one or two more full committee meetings before it issues a final recommendation to the FDA in March 2011. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its panels. (pi)