Home Politics America The FDA Appoints Cristine Delnevo as Chair of Tobacco Advisory Committee

The FDA Appoints Cristine Delnevo as Chair of Tobacco Advisory Committee

Director of the Rutgers Center for Tobacco Studies and a professor of Health Behavior, Cristine Delnevo has accepted the position of chairperson of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC).

Diane Caruana

August 12, 2022

Only last month, it was announced that CTP director Matthew Holman, is leaving his position “effective immediately” to work for Big Tobacco instead

Delnevo was appointed in March 2021, and she will hold the position until January 2025. TPSAC is in charge of reviewing and evaluating the safety and health risks of tobacco products and releases information and recommendations to the FDA’s commissioner accordingly. The committee members are selected from among people with expertise in the fields of medicine, science or technology involving the manufacture and use of tobacco products.

“I have valued the importance of this FDA advisory committee since the signing of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009,” said Delnevo. “This advisory committee plays an important role in several ways, perhaps most notably on the review of modified risk tobacco product applications, as required under the Tobacco Control Act. I value the service of Dr. Jonathan Samet and Dr. Robin Mermelstein who served admirably before me as chair, and I look forward to working with an esteemed group of colleagues to help the FDA make regulatory decisions to protect public health and reduce tobacco-related morbidity and mortality.”

A recent questionable FDA resignation

In other FDA-related news, it was recently announced that Matthew Holman, who became CTP’s director only earlier last month, said he would be leaving his position “effective immediately,” revealing that the former OS head “has been on leave since before my tenure began at the Center” and saying that “he recused himself, consistent with agency ethics policies, from all CTP/FDA work while exploring career opportunities outside of government.”

President of American Vapor Manufacturers and a vape shop owner in Arizona, Amanda Wheeler, naturally believes that there is more to this. “Dr. Holman is not leaving the FDA, he’s escaping,” told Filter. “It is hard to avoid the sense that the most serious and essential work on tobacco harm reduction is being done outside of an agency that appears beyond repair.”

Only days earlier, FDA head Robert Califf, had announced he will be commissioning external experts to conduct “a comprehensive evaluation” of the CTP. It is no secret that the FDA has been under fire for multiple reasons related to the authorization of safer nicotine alternative products. Also last month the agency was heavily criticised by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). In a letter citing STAT’s reporting the agency’s lack of action with regards to a Synthetic Nicotine ban announced earlier this year, the Senators said that the FDA “appears to be on the brink of failing yet again at protecting our nation’s children.”