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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday said it is creating a 12-person panel to advise the agency on sensitive areas of overseeing the tobacco industry.

The panel, which will include three tobacco industry representatives, will advise the FDA on the impact of menthol in cigarettes, the use of descriptors such as "light" on tobacco packages and other sensitive issues as the agency grapples with implementing new powers to oversee the massive tobacco industry.

Tobacco legislation banned into law this year bans companies from selling flavored tobacco products, but not menthol cigarettes. One area where the panel will likely have a large impact is smokeless tobacco. Tobacco companies such as Philip Morris and Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) have in recent years begun aggressively developing smokeless tobacco products that are dissolvable in the mouth. Tobacco companies want to be able to market these products as less risky than traditional tobacco products.

The new law says they can't market them as less risky unless they prove so. The panel will likely advise the agency on setting benchmarks for what data are necessary to determine whether one tobacco product is less risky than another. The FDA says the panel will advise the agency on how smokeless tobacco products affect public health, particularly that of children.

The FDA has been moving rapidly since President Barack Obama signed into law in June legislation that gives the FDA the authority to regulate the tobacco industry. Last week, the FDA named a former Veterans Affairs public health chief, Dr. Lawrence Deyton, to head the tobacco division. Deyton has a history of starting public health initiatives and began smoking-cessation programs at the VA that lowered smoking rates among veterans.

The agency is seeking nominations for the panel members. Eight of the members will be experts in medicine, medical ethics science and tobacco technology, according to a press release from the FDA. The three members from the industry, who won't have voting power, will be taken from small and large tobacco manufacturing companies and tobacco farmers. There will be one person from the general public on the panel.

The FDA's new powers allow the agency to restrict tobacco advertising and promotions, collect user fees from tobacco companies and stop the illegal sales of cigarettes and other products to children.

- By Jared A. Favole, Dow Jones Newswires; 202.862.9207; jared.favole@dowjones.com