The FDA announced a plan to regulate e-cigarettes two years ago, but these are the first concrete regulations issued. The new rules affect not only e-cigarettes but more traditional tobacco products, including cigars, pipe tobacco and hookah tobacco. “We have more to do to help protect Americans from the dangers of tobacco and nicotine, especially our youth. As cigarette smoking among those under 18 has fallen, the use of other nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, has taken a drastic leap. All of this is creating a new generation of Americans who are at risk of addiction,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement today. “Today’s announcement is an important step in the fight for a tobacco-free generation -- it will help us catch up with changes in the marketplace, put into place rules that protect our kids and give adults information they need to make informed decisions," Burwell said.
Federal officials framed the new regulations as a way to take on the rapidly increasing rates of e-cigarette usage among teens. The new regulations will affect the selling, marketing and manufacturing of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products. Newly announced prohibitions on selling e-cigarettes, hookah tobacco and cigars to people under 18 or giving free samples will start to be enforced within 90 days, according to the FDA. Mitch Zeller, director of the Center for Tobacco Products, a part of the FDA, likened the current e-cigarette marketplace to "the wild, wild west," pointing out that there have been reports of e-cigarettes exploding in recent months, causing burns on teens. "Today is a first step, a foundational step, to bring all these previously unregulated products into the world of being regulated," Zeller said during a news conference today.
Health officials have been concerned that teens and other young adults may view e-cigarettes as an alternative to cigarettes with a rising number of teens using e-cigarettes. A recent survey found current e-cigarette use among high school students has risen sharply, from 1.5 percent in 2011 to 16 percent in 2015, according to the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 3 million middle and high school students were current e-cigarette users in 2015, according to the FDA. Data also showed high school boys smoked cigars at about the same rate as cigarettes.
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