Clarification on tobacco

Some points made in your recent article, "Agency warns of candy-like tobacco" (Oct. 26) need to be clarified and corrected. The dissolvable tobacco products made and marketed by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. — Camel Orbs, Sticks and Strips — are not "tobacco candy." In fact, these are tobacco products and are sold on the same store shelves as other tobacco products. They carry the same health warnings as other smokeless tobacco products. Their sale is age-restricted and their packaging is child-resistant.

Dissolvable tobacco products have been sold in the U.S. for a number of years.

R.J. Reynolds will work closely with the FDA's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee and provide any information needed in its analysis of dissolvable tobacco products.

Tommy J. Payne

executive vice president

Public Affairs

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.