National Taxpayers Union (NTU) President Pete Sepp gave testimony to a public hearing of the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee regarding Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRTP) – tobacco products that pose a lower health risk than cigarettes or similar traditional products.
NTU has a long track record of providing expert analysis in the tobacco market including cigarette taxes, Pre-Market Tobacco Product Applications, state level taxes and regulations, and public health policies in general as they relate to taxpayers. NTU’s goal is to make sure the concerns of the taxpayers are addressed when considering public policy.
Mr. Sepp’s remarks focused on three key components: 1) taxpayer-funded public health programs could fiscally benefit over the longer term by more products entering the market; 2) the application process, in general, needs greater certainty, transparency, and alacrity to encourage the development of and investment in new products, and 3) participants in the process deserve value for the considerable regulatory costs and charges they must bear for engaging in that process.
“NTU believes the Committee’s role is to recognize the need for a stable policy climate that can add to the empirical collection of data,” Mr. Sepp testified. “Denying, delaying, or deterring innovation in alternatives to traditional smoking – whether through a poorly functioning approval process, excessive taxes, overly burdensome regulations, or other ill-advised market interventions – will only thwart that goal.”
Mr. Sepp provided the committee with prudent recommendations that would lower the costs to public health, encourage innovation, and provide greater transparency to facilitate more studies and analysis.
Read the full testimony here.
To speak with Pete Sepp about his testimony, contact Courtney Manley, NTUF Communications Manager at 703-299-8671 or Courtney.manley@ntu.org.