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• Government Watchdog Group Successfully Challenges Federal Health Policy on Data Quality Act Grounds 

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the 27 Institutes and Centers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has agreed to revise its Age Page website and printed literature entitled Smoking: It's Never Too Late to Stop, according to a letter sent by the NIA to the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) on June 29. This action was a direct result of the formal complaint filed by NLPC, on March 16, which contended that the NIA was disseminating inaccurate information regarding the relative risks of smokeless tobacco products thus violating the Data Quality Act.

"For years, governmental organizations have lumped together cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products as posing identical health risks," said Ken Boehm, NLPC Chairman. "Not only are smokeless tobacco products at least 90 percent safer than cigarettes, they can provide a helpful bridge to smoking cessation for smokers who want to quit."

As a result of the NLPC's petition, the National Institute on Aging "carefully reviewed scientific literature on the subject of smokeless tobacco." Furthermore, according to the letter, "because NIA is committed to providing precise and scientifically accurate information" they will discard existing inventory of Smoking: It's Never Too Late to Stop in order to "print a new edition that is a more current statement of evidence-based information."

The most significant development is NIA's acknowledgment of the relative risks of smokeless tobacco products as evidenced by the removal of the following statement from their literature:

"Some people think smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco and snuff), pipes, and cigars are safer than cigarettes. They are not."

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