E-cigarettes: FDA seeks ban on sales to under-18s
Print Edition
THE United States Food and Drug Administration proposed rules yesterday that would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under 18, but would not restrict flavored products, online sales or advertising, which public health advocates say attract children.
The long-awaited proposal would subject the US$2 billion e-cigarette industry to federal regulation for the first time.
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said at a briefing that the proposal represented the first “foundational” step towards broader restrictions if scientific evidence shows they are needed to protect public health.
Critics of e-cigarette advertising say it risks introducing a new generation of young people to conventional cigarettes. And they lamented the fact that limits were not included in the proposed rule.
“It’s very disappointing because they don’t do anything to rein in the wild-west marketing that is targeting kids,” said Stanton Glantz, a professor at the Center of Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco. “They should not have been so timid.”
Hamburg said the current proposal “lays the foundation for many more actions and activities.”
Vince Willmore, a spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, said the proposal “by no means does everything we think needs to be done, but it starts the process.
“What is critical now is that they finalize this rule and then move quickly to fill the gaps.”
A law passed in 2009 gave the FDA authority to regulate cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco.
E-cigarettes use battery-powered cartridges to produce a nicotine-laced inhalable vapor.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
