Earlier this month, Democratic legislators released a report that highlight the seemingly youth-oriented marketing strategies employed by e-cigarette companies such as promoting their products in music festivals and media programs with young audiences.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said that the marketing practices of e-cigarette companies which were revealed in the report are an indication of their effort to market their products to children. Durbin and 10 other lawmakers have then called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to include e-cigarettes in its jurisdiction so the agency can regulate the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes just as with tobacco products.
On Thursday, the FDA will finally implement rules that will regulate e-cigarettes for the first time. Although the regulations are not as comprehensive as those that govern traditional tobacco products, the agency will prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes to anyone below 18 years old.
Manufacturers will also be required to gain approval for their products. E-cigarette makers need to submit an application within two years, which will be subjected to FDA's approval, to keep their products in the market. They are also required to provide information about the chemicals that they use as well as scientific evidence that would back up claims that e-cigarettes are safer than standard cigarettes.
E-cigarettes will also have health warnings to inform users that the nicotine in the devices can be addictive. Cigarette makers will also be prohibited from distributing free samples, a marketing strategy of traditional tobacco product makers are already prohibited to do. The FDA, however, will not prohibit the sale of the devices on the internet as well as ban advertisements and flavors.
Critics are particularly concerned about the implications of e-cigarettes on the youth. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported of the growing number of high school students who claimed to have tried e-cigarettes.
"In the absence of any meaningful regulation, the e-cigarette manufacturers have acted as if it's the wild, wild West, with no rules and no restraints," said Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president Matthew Myers. "Their advertising is exactly the same type of advertising that made cigarettes so appealing to young people."
While e-cigarettes are promoted as a safer and effective replacement for traditional tobacco products, critics are concerned that use of the device in non-smokers could lead them to smoke traditional cigarettes.
