GLEN ALLEN, Va. -- Star Scientific Inc. says it has developed a moist snuff tobacco product that has levels of carcinogens lower than any snuff product currently in the marketplace. The company plans to submit an application to market Stonewall Moist-BDL in the first quarter of this year.

According to the company, this new product has levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), which scientists pinpoint as one of the most powerful cancer-causing agents in tobacco leaf and smoke, below 20 parts per billion in initial testing. Star Scientific says this is 99 percent lower than the levels found in conventional American moist snuffs such as Copenhagen or Skoal, and 90 percent less than the level found in current "snus" products. Moist snuff products account for the largest portion of the smokeless tobacco market (73 percent) and this has been the fastest growing segment of the tobacco marketplace in the United States in recent years. First-quarter 2010 sales increased at a rate of 7 percent, added the Star Scientific release.

Star Scientific believes that its application to market the product under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 will be the first modified-risk application for a moist snuff tobacco product. Star Scientific submitted two modified-risk applications to the Food and Drug Administration in February and June 2010 for approval for the company's Ariva-BDL and Stonewall-BDL dissolvable smokeless products; the Center for Tobacco Products stated in a guidance document in November 2009 that it anticipated the approval process would take 360 days or less after filing.