FDA and NIH put $53 million toward tobacco research

As part of an interagency partnership, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have put significant funds toward tobacco-related research, creating 14 Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS).

The science and research programs that will be established as a result of the support are being designed to increase understanding and awareness of the risks accompanying tobacco use, as well as to inform tobacco regulation.

Part of the reason for the partnership between the two bodies is that, although there have been decades of work toward reducing tobacco use in the US, it is still the main cause of preventable death and disease.

NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins says that in the US, "smoking still accounts for one in five deaths each year, which is far too many."

FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg says:

"For the first time, under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the federal government, through the FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), is able to bring science-based regulation to the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of tobacco products."

TCORS will also be coordinated by the NIH's Office of Disease Prevention and administered by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.