E-cigarettes, which deliver nicotine without tobacco or combustion, are the most important harm-reducing alternative to smoking ever developed, one that could prevent millions of premature deaths in the United States alone.
Yet bureaucrats and politicians seem determined to negate that historic opportunity through regulations and taxes that threaten to cripple the industry.
When a court-set deadline for “premarket” approval of vaping products came and went Sept. 9, the Food and Drug Administration had received millions of applications but had not approved any. As a result, the agency says, every vaping device and nicotine liquid sold in America is “marketed unlawfully” and “subject to enforcement action at the FDA’s discretion.”
Seven years after the FDA officially declared its intention to regulate “electronic nicotine delivery systems,” or ENDS, as “tobacco products,” the industry remains in legal limbo, existing only thanks to the agency’s enforcement discretion and limited resources. Despite the FDA’s promises of regulatory flexibility, it is perpetuating a situation in which manufacturers don’t know whether they’ll still be in business next week, next month or next year.
Jacob Sullum – NY Post – 2021-09-21.
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