The FDA has allowed Natural American Spirits, a brand of cigarette owned by Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co, to continue using the word “natural,” reports MedPage Today. 

The new agreement does require the removal of the term “additive-free” from the labeling of the company’s various products and the word “natural” from all packaging with the exception of the brand name, but the packaging can still include the word “organic,” which the anti-tobacco groups say also misleads the public into thinking the cigarettes are less harmful than other brands.

In a press release, Koval called the agreement, “a gift to the tobacco industry, permitting RJ Reynolds to continue the highly misleading, and very possibly legally fraudulent, marketing and labeling of American Spirit cigarettes.”

The agreement was issued on the last day of the Obama presidency, and Koval said it is not clear why it was not made public.

In the press release, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president Matthew L Myers said the agreement falls “woefully short of the complete prohibition needed” on the term “natural” and other terms that falsely imply a safer cigarette.

“The marketing for Natural American Spirit is the most deceptive of any major US cigarette brand now on the market and has helped fuel a large increase in the brands’s sales even as overall cigarette sales in the US have fallen,” he said.

Get the whole story at www.medscape.com