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ABD, FDA Partner for Retail Tobacco Compliance Checks
Ankeny, Iowa
The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) has been awarded a contract by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help enforce provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 (Tobacco Control Act). Under the law, tobacco retailers will be inspected to ensure they are complying with marketing and sales restrictions on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. The FDA contract was awarded for one year plus two option years. FDA expects there will be further opportunity to contract beyond the initial three years.
“The Division’s investigators are experienced in state tobacco inspections and have received training for the federal checks,” said ABD Administrator Stephen Larson. “The transition to conduct these FDA inspections will be smooth and fit well within our overall priority to ensure compliant sales of tobacco in Iowa.”
The Tobacco Control Act seeks to prevent and reduce tobacco use by young people by enforcing the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco products. The law also prohibits false or misleading labeling and advertising for tobacco products, and gives authority to FDA to enforce all its provisions.
“Most smokers start young and face a lifetime of nicotine addiction,” said Lawrence R. Deyton, M.S.P.H., M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “All of us have to do our part to prevent kids from trying tobacco. That’s why I’m proud that FDA and the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division are joining forces to ensure that retailers comply with the law. Working together we can make the pain and suffering caused by tobacco use part of Iowa’s past, not its future.”
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports that, each day, more than 3,800 young Americans under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette and approximately 1,000 under the age of 18 start smoking daily.
Under the contract, ABD investigators conduct undercover buys, as well as advertising and labeling inspections, in accordance with the FDA Tobacco Compliance Check contract. All potential tobacco retailer violations found by ABD investigators are reported to the FDA. The FDA then brings enforcement actions against tobacco retailers in Iowa that may include warning letters, civil money penalties and no-tobacco-sales orders.
The Iowa ABD will begin the inspections and undercover buys next week. Approximately 215 retailers statewide will be inspected per month.
More information on the partnership and compliance checks can be found at fda.gov/tobacco and at the Division's FDA compliance webpage.
