Proposed US Rule Requires E-Cigarette Sellers To Disclose Potential Harm - Health Dept.

Companies planning to market conventional-and-electronic cigarettes and will be required to disclose potential harm of products to be sold in the US under proposed regulations announced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2019) Companies planning to market conventional-and-electronic cigarettes and will be required to disclose potential harm of products to be sold in the US under proposed regulations announced by the food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday.

"These important regulatory actions are part of our ongoing oversight of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products that is critical to our public health mission and, especially, to protecting kids from the dangers of nicotine addiction and tobacco-related disease and death," Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless said in a press release.

When finalized, the proposed rule will require premarket tobacco product applications to explain potential public health benefits and possible harm of products before the products go on sale, the release said.

In deciding whether to approve a new nicotine product for sale, the FDA will also review a product's components, ingredients, additives, constituents, toxicological profile and health impact, as well as how the product is manufactured, packaged and labeled, the release added.

The regulations are likely to apply retroactively to tobacco and e-cigarette products that were being sold as of August 8, 2016 to comply with a US Federal court order, according to the release.

The FDA regulates cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco products under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

The proposed regulation follows an FDA ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, believed responsible for an epidemic of teen vaping and resulting nicotine addiction.

The issue is clouded by eight deaths and hundreds of serious illnesses tied to vaping of e-cigarettes and products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.

The release made no mention of THC.