April 10, 1996

ANTISMOKERS ASK FDA TO BLOCK SMOKELESS CIGARETTE

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An anti-smoking group asked the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday to block R.J. Reynolds' long-promised smokeless cigarette Eclipse.

Eclipse eliminates 90 percent of the secondhand smoke of traditional cigarettes by heating the tobacco instead of burning it. It also produces no lingering odor and is less likely to start a fire if dropped, RJR says.

But when RJR said this week it was about to begin final marketing research in Chattanooga, Tenn., to ensure smokers were interested in Eclipse, the anti-tobacco group Action on Smoking or Health filed a complaint with the FDA.

In 1987, the FDA blocked Advanced Tobacco Products' Favor Smokeless Cigarettes, which was a "plug impregnanted with a nicotine solution" inside a cigarette-looking tube, by declaring it a drug that simply delivered addictive nicotine into the body.

ASH director John Banzhaf told the FDA Tuesday that Eclipse should fall under the same ruling and not be allowed on the market.

FDA spokesman Jim O'Hara said the agency would examine the complaint.

The situation illustrates a dilemma facing tobacco companies: Some antismokers complain when they seek to develop what others would call a "safer" cigarette.

"Eclipse takes a big step forward in reducing secondhand smoke, something smokers and nonsmokers ... have called for," said RJR spokeswoman Kay Carter. "There are some 900 cigarette styles on the market; this is simply another choice."

Eclipse looks like a regular cigarette, but instead of burning tobacco, only a piece of carbon in the tip is lit. Warm air drawn over the tobacco carries the nicotine and tobacco flavor through a standard filter.

RJR already has tested Eclipse with more than 12,000 smokers in 20 states. If the final marketing research in Chattanooga, scheduled to start by June, goes well, RJR said it may begin selling Eclipse in test markets by the end of the year.

The FDA already is preparing to regulate the advertising and marketing of conventional cigarettes in an effort to curb teen-age smoking.