CRA Gets International Against FDA Regulations
Cigar Rights of America has taken its fight against FDA regulations of the cigar market international with from three major cigar producing countries. Ambassadors from Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic have signed a letter to the Obama istration warning of the damage such regulations would do both inside and outside the United States.
The letter states: "If history is any precedent, some of the regulations that could be imposed by the agency would prove disastrous to the centuries old cigar industry that provides more than 350,000 jobs among our three nations, and represents millions of dollars in export revenue. No regulatory measure should threaten such jobs, and hence raise the specter of political and economic consequences within our region."
CRA Executive Director Glynn Loope commended the three ambassadors (Jorge Ramon Hernandez-Alcerro of Honduras, Anibal de Castro of the Dominican Republic, and Francisco Campbell of Nicaragua) for their assistance in the ongoing fight. "Their message to the State Department, FDA and channels at The White House proclaim, as only they can, that this industry is built upon generations of art, history and skill," said Loope, "and no act of this government, should threaten such a foundation to each of their respective national economies."
The t letter was delivered to high-ranking officials at the FDA, White House, and State Department. The FDA was given control of the entire U.S. tobacco industry in 2009 when President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law.
For more on this story, see today's Cigar Insider.
