Embracing Harm Reduction, FDA Gives E-Cigarette Industry a Regulatory Reprieve

"Unless we change course, 5.6 million youngsters alive today incredible further down the road from tobacco utilize". That is music to the ears of harm-reduction advocates who see vaping as a life-saving alternative to smoking and viewed the original FDA rules as misguided, heavy-handed, and potentially deadly meddling that effectively gave conventional cigarettes an advantage over competing sources of nicotine that are much less unsafe.

The FDA also said it will take a look at menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products created to appeal to youth, and the health impacts of smoking premium cigars.

Disclosure: Gottlieb and Zeller are employed by the FDA. The agency now says e-cigarette companies have until August, 8, 2022 to submit to review and can keep their products on the market in the meantime. Philip Morris has spent over $3 billion on developing its reduced-risk portfolio. That date meant that almost all the e-cig products sold today would be required to go through the review, industry officials said.

"Until the eventual development of specific proposals, it's too early to understand the practical implications", said Simon Evans, a spokesman for Imperial Brands Plc, a Bristol, U.K. -based tobacco manufacturer that sells Winston and Kool cigarettes. The goal is to ensure that the FDA has the proper scientific and regulatory foundation to efficiently and effectively implement the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

The US Food and Drug Administration said that it aims to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes but also encourage smokers to shift towards e-cigarettes as part of a major new regulatory programme.

Developing regulations around the proposal will take time, and is sure to attract fierce debate. At the same time, the FDA will delay regulations on electronic cigarettes and other newer products to "afford the agency time to explore clear and meaningful measures to make tobacco products less toxic, appealing, and addictive", the agency said in a press statement. The business' cigarette deals volume dropped an expected 4.5 percent last quarter, Altria revealed recently.

The timing of the FDA announcement may be particularly painful for British American Tobacco, which just completed its nearly $50 billion acquisition of Reynolds American Inc. earlier this week.