E-cigarettes are yet once again in the news and this time the American Medical Association is lobbying behind the Food and Drug Administration's efforts to curb marketing of the device to minors.
The FDA is proposing enacting changes on how e-cigarette makers package and advertise e-cigarettes and the actions include a ban on sales to minors as well as warning labels on the devices.
The AMA wants even more restrictions, such as not allowing e-cigarette makers to make devices in child-appealing flavors such as bubble gum and cotton candy. It would also like childproof packaging used in manufacturing.
The largest medical group is also recommending a minimum age to purchase e-cigarettes and a ban on unsupported allegations that the device can help a smoker quit the habit. It also wants the FDA to make e-cigarette makers offer up insight on device design, emissions and content of the device.
"The AMA supports an FDA proposal to fill the gap in federal regulations on purchasing, labeling, packaging and advertising of electronic cigarettes," incoming AMA President Dr. Robert Wah said in a news release from the group.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the numbers of middle school and high school students using e-cigarettes spiked from 3.3 percent in 2011 to 6.8 percent in 2012.
"The AMA supports an FDA proposal to fill the gap in federal regulations on purchasing, labeling, packaging and advertising of electronic cigarettes," incoming AMA President Dr. Robert Wah said in a news release.
"The new policy will guide the AMA's future efforts to strongly encourage the proposed FDA regulation as a notable and important step to improve public health and deter the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors," said Wah.
One of the more recent research reports on the device reveals that claims about e-cigarettes not presenting a danger to smokers and nonsmokers and offering a viable healthy way to quit a nicotine habit aren't true.
A UC San Francisco research team states there is no evidence to support the claims from e-cigarette makers and advocates.
Teenager exposure to e-cigarette advertising jumped 256 percent between 2011 and 2013, and put the electronic smoking device in front of 24 million children, states a report from RTI International and the Florida Department of Health, published in the journal Pediatrics.
