Legislators as well as health and advocacy groups have urged the Food and Drug Administration to act up on e-cigarette companies particularly because of their marketing schemes that apparently target young users.
On Thursday, the FDA finally made a historic move that critics of e-cigarettes have long been waiting for. The agency will now regulate electronic cigarettes and has proposed rules that would govern the conduct of e-cigarette companies in the U.S.
Under the proposed rules, e-cigarette manufacturers are banned from selling their products to minors. They are also required to disclose the ingredients they use in their products, use warning labels and seek federal approval.
The agency's move and proposed regulations, however, were met with criticisms. Supporters of the industry are concerned that FDA's new rule for green-lighting e-cigarette products may take a toll on small e-cigarette companies as they may not have the resources needed to comply with product approval requirements.
"The filing requirements that would be imposed on manufacturers would put small-sized, and probably medium-sized, companies out of business," the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA) said in a statement. "There is simply no way to reconcile the burdens imposed by proposed requirements with the resources of small and medium specialty businesses that make higher quality e-cigarette components."
The new rules will inevitable affect the sales of e-cigarette companies so negative reaction from them is anticipated but those who called for FDA's regulation of e-cigarettes aren't apparently happy as well.
Senate Health Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) pointed out that the FDA did not prohibit the sale of candy flavored e-cigarettes and this could pose a problem as candy flavors were used by e-cigarette companies to get kids to use their products.
"I urge the agency to keep their foot on the gas and take strong action towards ensuring that they are kept out of the hands of young people-in particular, by including in the finalized rule a prohibition against candy flavors used to entice kids to become addicted to their products," Harkin said in a statement.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Deputy Director for Policy Chris Bostic questioned the effectiveness of the rules as they do not regulate the advertisement of e-cigarettes on radio, television and print media. "With e-cigarettes, we've got those ads back on the air, and they look just like the ads from the 50s and 60s. It's making cigarettes a normal public behavior again," Bostic said.
The number of grade 6 to 12 students in the U.S who has tried using e-cigarettes has increased from 3.3 percent in 2011 to 6.8 percent a year later. FDA's proposed regulations on e-cigarettes are expected to have implication on the number of young Americans who use and try the devices.
