摘要：As state and local governments increase restrictions on cigarette smoking, tobacco manufacturers have shifted to marketing alternative tobacco products. Tobacco control laws need to be updated to reflect this shifting marketplace. With the 2010 enactment of the Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act, Minnesota addressed regulatory gaps and created a model law for other states. We have detailed the updated definitions of tobacco and tobacco products and identified ways that future laws could be strengthened. THE CONSUMPTION OF tobacco products has shifted in recent years. Domestic sales of cigarettes have decreased more than 30% since 2001, 1 and reported use of other products such as cigarette-like cigars, roll-your-own tobacco, moist snuff, and smokeless tobaccos is increasing. 2–4 Since 2006, each of the 4 major US tobacco companies test marketed or launched new smokeless tobacco products. 5 Tobacco companies are also investing in alternative nicotine delivery devices such as electronic cigarettes. 5 It is likely that the marketplace for tobacco products will continue to evolve. Most tobacco control laws were adopted during the latter half of the twentieth century, when cigarette smoking was the predominant form of tobacco use and many modern products were not yet introduced to the market. Consequently, many state and local tobacco tax and use laws do not account for these new products. Tobacco tax laws may not account for snus, dissolvable tobacco products, and electronic cigarettes. Use restrictions, such as smoke-free laws, may not apply to water pipes and electronic cigarettes. Minimum pack size regulations generally apply only to cigarettes, not to products such as little cigars and dissolvable tobacco products. Perhaps most important, neither the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act—the 2009 federal law giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over tobacco products—nor the FDA itself has imposed new regulations on cigars, pipe tobacco, or electronic cigarettes. 6 In the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, some provisions apply even more narrowly. For example, the prohibitions on characterizing flavors and the sale of single products apply only to cigarettes. The FDA has authority to assert jurisdiction over other products and has stated its intention of doing so, but the agency has not yet exercised its authority and the scope of any potential federal regulation is unknown. In 2010, Minnesota tobacco control advocates partnered with state legislators to lead an effort to update the state’s tobacco regulations. The resulting legislation, the Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act of 2010 (TMCA) addressed several regulatory gaps. We have summarized the TMCA and suggested ways it could serve as a model for other states.
