Well, well, well. It’s a big week for some of us with disgusting personal habits. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the marketing of e-cigarettes for the first time ever. Officially, they told the R.J. Reynolds Company to go hog wild with three products related to the Vuse vape, after a study found its aerosols were “significantly less toxic” than combusted cigarettes.
In case you glazed over that last clause, the FDA said “significantly less toxic.” Here’s what they wrote (emphasis ours):
“These products were found to meet this standard because, among several key considerations, the agency determined that study participants who used only the authorized products were exposed to fewer harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) from aerosols compared to users of combusted cigarettes. The toxicological assessment also found the authorized products’ aerosols are significantly less toxic than combusted cigarettes based on available data comparisons and results of nonclinical studies.”
The authorization comes in the middle of a massive review of vaping companies by the FDA. Though E-cigarettes have been sold in the U.S. since the late 2000s with minimal regulation, the FDA announced last year that manufacturers would have to apply for authorization in order to continue selling them. According to the Washington Post, some two million companies were told to stop selling their products by Sept. 9, until their applications had been reviewed. The FDA has rejected at least 946,000 products so far, according to the New York Times.
Tarpley Hitt – Gawker – 2021-10-14.
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