The US is cracking down on e-cigarette use after an alarming jump in the popularity of vaping
The US government is cracking down on e-cigarette use after an alarming jump in the popularity of vaping among young people
The Federal Drug Administration tried in 2008 to rein in e-cigarettes as unapproved drug delivery devices but it was beaten in the courts. This time, it is acting through tougher tobacco control legislation.
FDA Center for Tobacco Products director Mitch Zeller said the agency could now finally tame the “wild, wild west” of the US e-cigarette market.
Mr Zeller described the move as “a first step, a foundational step, to bring all these previously unregulated products into the world of being regulated.”
From August, the FDA will have jurisdiction over all tobacco-related items – e-cigarettes, nicotine gels, hookahs and cigars –not previously covered by the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
It will ban sales to minors, require manufacturers to submit products marketed since 2007 for FDA scrutiny and approval, and demand they employ warnings about nicotine and addiction.
The pro-vaping lobby has argued this will kill off smaller makers, leaving Big Tobacco to benefit. But critics say the new rules aren’t tough enough; it could take years to see off unsafe products and there’s still no ban on flavoured e-cigs designed to appeal to the young.
US authorities say e-cigarettes, which draw vapour from heated, nicotine-infused liquid, are poised to overtake regular cigarettes by 2017.
