The Federal Drug Administration released its first-ever regulations for electronic cigarettes Thursday.
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According to the new rules, which regulate e-cigs as “tobacco products”, sellers must verify a buyer’s age by photo ID; free samples are also banned, as is the sale of covered tobacco products in vending machines (unless in an adult-only facility).
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)- Thursday, the FDA announced plans to crack down on e-cigarettes, premium cigars, and hookah.
“This move by the FDA will provide clarity on the exact ingredients included in e-cigarettes, as well as expressly prohibiting businesses from selling them to minors”, Tami Silverman, president and CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute, said in a statement.
Curious about e-cigarettes and “vaping?” “We can not let the enormous progress we’ve made toward a tobacco-free generation be undermined by products that impact our health and economy this way”, said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
Consumers are not the only ones feeling the pinch of these new regulations; manufacturers now also face much closer scrutiny. He started vaping as a way to quit smoking.
The FDA will allow companies to sell their products for up to two years while they submit their application for approval and an additional year as the FDA reviews their application.
Jerry Brown signed a bill regulating electronic cigarettes as tobacco products.
In 2009, the FDA began focusing on e-cigarettes as the product began appearing in the US market.
Seen here is an e-cigarette user puffing on the device at the Henley Vaporium in NY.
Denholtz’s attorney Phil Daman is concerned that the regulations are so onerous and costly that many shops and manufactuers will eventually go out of business. “The reality is they really haven’t been studied and we don’t really understand what the risks are and what the potential advantages are”.
The FDA aims to steer teens away from nicotine and tobacco products with the new regulations.
But opponents said the FDA’s product-review rules could harm the e-cigarette industry.
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However Travis Apon, who uses e-cigarettes, said, “Cigarettes are pretty bad for any life form that comes in contact with it, so if we can get rid of cigarettes all together, that is definitely the stepping stone to moving on to that”.
