ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES AND THE FDA!

Before you read this post, I urge you to search the archives of DrGOpines for the post on Electronic Cigarettes. It contains introductory information about vaping and e-cigarettes and gives you a background of the breadth of the problem and the dilemma faced by the Food and Drug Administration, FDA. 

The FDA and the CDC are “deeply concerned” about e-cigarette use among our nation’s youth. The CDC, in particular, is concerned about “a serious public health problem that threatens the years of progress we have made combatting youth tobacco use.” The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey determined that 2.5 million U.S. middle and high school students use e-cigarettes; a startling statistic. Thus the FDA has taken steps to regulate these products, especially those containing nicotine from any source. 

The FDA has “taken steps against” two of the most commonly used e-cigarette brands. These are EVO Brands and Puff Bar. I know nothing about these products, but the FDA has singled them out because they are “delivering” e-cigarettes in the U.S. that contain nicotine products without legal authorization to do so. The FDA also ordered another company, Magellan Technology, to stop selling and distributing “32 Hyde e-cigarettes” because the company failed to prove the product would benefit adult users and not hurt youths. “As with Puff Bar e-cigarettes, none of the Hyde e-cigarettes has received authorization from the FDA, so selling or distributing them is illegal.”

GOOD NEWS! E-cigarettes rank right up there with cryptocurrency as the biggest, most harmful scams perpetrated upon the American public in recent years. E-cigarettes win the prize, though, because anyone who can breathe could potentially use them while crypto is exclusive to the few mega-rich. Either way, these two ridiculous ruses are eating into the pocketbooks and ruining the health of naive users. Unlike tobacco, government regulators haven’t taken fifty years and ignored the deaths of millions of Americans to decide e-cigarettes are harmful and act in the public interest. “The FDA is actively working to identify violations and to swiftly seek corrective actions, particularly for products popular among youth.” I commend for this effort.

Reference: News From the Food and Drug Administration: “Tackling Young People’s e-Cigarette Use” JAMA 2022 November 15;329(19):1898.