FDA Announces Sweeping New Rules For E-Cigarettes

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government announced sweeping new rules Thursday for electronic cigarettes that will for the first time require the devices and their ingredients to be reviewed, a mandate that could offer protection for consumers and upend a multibillion dollar industry that has gone largely unregulated. Before brands are allowed to stay in the market, regulators will check the e-cigarettes’ design and the liquid nicotine they contain. The fast-growing devices have found a foothold with teenagers. RELATED: New E-Cig Sale Regulations In Massachusetts “Millions of kids are being introduced to nicotine every year, a new generation hooked on a highly addictive chemical,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said. “We cannot let the enormous progress we’ve made toward a tobacco-free generation be undermined by products that impact our health and economy in this way.” The rules issued by the Food and Drug Administration will also extend long-standing restrictions on traditional cigarettes to a host of other products, including e-cigarettes, hookah tobacco, pipe tobacco and nicotine gels. Minors would be banned from buying the products. Battery-powered e-cigarettes turn the nicotine into an inhalable vapor. They lack the chemicals and tars of burning tobacco, but the cigarettes have not been extensively studied, and there’s no scientific consensus on the risks or advantages of “vaping.” More than 15 ...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health News Trending e-cigarettes FDA Source Type: news