FDA to regulate e-cigs as tobacco products

Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va.

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that it plans to regulate smokeless electronic cigarettes as tobacco products and won’t try to regulate them under stricter rules for drug-delivery devices.

The federal agency said in a letter to stakeholders Monday that it intends to propose rule changes to treat e-cigarettes the same as traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The news is considered a victory for makers and distributors of the devices, which continue to gain popularity worldwide.

E-cigarettes are plastic and metal devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution in a disposable cartridge, creating vapor that the “smoker” inhales. A light on the tip glows like a real cigarette.

Users and distributors say e-cigarettes address the nicotine addiction and the behavioral aspects of smoking — the holding of the cigarette, the puffing, seeing the smoke come out and the hand motion — without the more than 4,000 chemicals found in cigarettes.

First marketed overseas in 2002, e-cigarettes didn’t become easily available in the U.S. until late 2006. Now, the industry has grown from the thousands of users in 2006 to several million worldwide, with tens of thousands of new e-smokers every week.

No timeline has been set on the proposed changes.

The FDA said e-cigarettes could still be regulated as drugs or drug-delivery devices if they are “marketed for therapeutic purposes” — for example, as a stop-smoking aid.

Craig Weiss, president of Sottera Inc., the Arizona-based company involved in the lawsuit that led to the FDA’s decision Monday, said he was “very happy” with the agency’s decision. The company markets NJOY brand e-cigarettes.

Nearly 46 million Americans smoke cigarettes. About 40 percent try to quit each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.