FDA Will Maintain Control Over E-Cigarettes … for now

A federal appeals court has denied a legal challenge by an e-cigarette manufacturer and an industry coalition, thus upholding the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory authority over electronic cigarettes. These devices deliver a vaporized form of nicotine to users, and the ruling allows the FDA to maintain control over their marketing.

The Zero Nicotine Conundrum

Many vapers, including several of my associates, feel their concerns are being overlooked. A significant question arises: why isn’t there a special rule for zero-nicotine e-cigarettes and e-liquids? Clearly, without nicotine, the FDA, or any other agency aiming to curb our industry, cannot accurately categorize 0mg nicotine products as tobacco products. Nicotine, by itself, is not the sole defining ingredient in tobacco.

Industry Resistance and the Fight for Flavors

While the FDA may have prevailed in this particular case, the agency still faces substantial resistance from trade groups and conservative activists, especially concerning its anticipated e-cigarette flavor restrictions.

It is time to definitively settle this issue in favor of e-cigarettes, flavored e-liquids, and the millions of Americans who are achieving better health by quitting tobacco and embracing vaping. Let’s find a resolution. If the FDA can set reasonable rules and regulations that will NOT put local and online vape shops out of business, and allow people to vape flavors, then the industry will comply.

Vaping has been a part of our lives for more than a decade, largely without incidence. The recent push to dismantle our industry, often leveraging the issues around illegal THC cartridges cut with Vitamin E acetate, represents a corruption of political process. It’s time to stop this interference and allow the vaping community to operate without undue persecution.

The ruling in the lawsuit, brought by e-cigarette maker Nicopure Labs and an industry group, affirmed the FDA’s power at a critical time. The agency is expected to announce restrictions on flavors, which have become the focal point of proposed legislation and lawsuits claiming they are used to entice children into nicotine use. It’s important to keep in mind that there is no concrete evidence suggesting teens vape primarily for flavors, making this argument fundamentally flawed from the outset.