FDA announcement on E-Cigarette Regulations

National Center for Public Policy Research Risk Analysis Director Jeff Stier has released the following statement regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s announcement today on e-cigarettes.  “I’m pleased that the FDA has finally released a blueprint for regulations of E-cigarettes, however I’m very concerned about how the FDA will implement these regulations. Essentially, what the FDA has done is tap e-cigs on the shoulder and said, ‘Hey, we now regulate you.’ While the new rules reportedly have some reasonable rules, such as a ban on the sale to minors, the FDA is describing the new regulations as ‘foundational.’ The devil will be in the details of future regulatory decisions. If the regulations are too heavy-handed, they will have the deadly effect of preventing smokers from quitting by switching to these dramatically less harmful alternatives. I am also concerned that, like most regulatory schemes, the expensive and burdensome requirements will heavily favor big companies at the expense of smaller innovative ones, thus slowing product improvements that would make e-cigarettes a more appealing alternative to even the most addicted smokers. One silver lining: some city and state legislatures have been using the lack of federal regulations as an excuse to institute their own draconian regulations, from public use bans to outright bans on flavored e-liquid. It will be harder to justify those bans now that the FDA is asserting federal oversight.” Stier is a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and heads its Risk Analysis Division.  The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank.