44
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
JULY/AUGUST 2014
New E-Vapor Game in Play
have two years after the new rules are
finalized to do so. In the meantime,
products can stay on the market.
“Eventually, the companies would
have to adhere to FDA standards
for manufacturing their products,
not unlike drug companies and food
companies do now, but the agency has
yet to write those rules,” reported
The
Times
.
Furthermore, e-cig and vapor
products would have to have a warning
label stating nicotine is addictive, but
that wouldn’t be a requirement until
two years after the rule is finalized.
What the initial proposal did
not
include: restrictions of flavors, a ban
on Internet sales to adults, nor a ban
on TV advertising (but of course these
items could all be re-evaluated at a
later date).
“Right now this rapidly evolving
marketplace is rapidly evolving with
no regulation whatsoever,” stated
Mitch Zeller, FDA’s director, Center of
Tobacco Products, when the proposed
regulations came out. “Now, for the
first time, there will be a science-based
regulatory agency playing a gate-
keeping function.”
A Matter of Interpretation
Of course, there are varying expert
viewpoints
and
interpretations
regarding the proposal.
From the positive camp, Tom Kiklas
of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic
Cigarette Association (TVECA) says
that he is happy about the FDA’s
proposed regulations because e-cigs
are tobacco products, and “as an
industry, we do need a regulatory path
because the product itself is a regulated
product.”
Also with a positive outlook, Linc
Williams, co-founder of the American
“Now, for the
first time, there will
be a science-based
regulatory agency
playing a gatekeeping
function.”
