The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first menthol-flavored product e-cigarette For adult smokers, acknowledging e-cigarette flavors can reduce the harms of traditional smoking.
FDA says it has authorized four menthol e-cigarettes from Njoy, a brand recently acquired by the tobacco giant Altriaalso sells Marlboro cigarettes.
The decision lends new credibility to e-cigarette companies’ long-standing claims that “their products” are the only ones. Products can help reduce the damage caused by smokingCancer, lung disease, and heart disease kill 480,000 people in the United States every year.
Parent groups and anti-tobacco advocates immediately criticized the decision, which follows years of urging regulators to keep menthol and Other flavors that can appeal to teens qiut the market.
“This decision may mean we never close the Pandora’s box of youth vaping epidemics,” said Meredith Berkman, co-founder of Parents Against Vaping. “The FDA is once again failing American families by allowing a predatory industry to seek out its next generation of lifelong customers—America’s children.”
Teen vaping has dropped from historically high levels in recent years, with about 10% of high school students reporting vaping last year. 90% of people who vape use flavors, including menthol.
All e-cigarettes previously authorized by the FDA were tobacco, and e-cigarettes are not widely used by young people.
Njoy is one of only three companies to have previously received FDA approval for an e-cigarette product. Like these products, the menthol variety comes in cartridge form, inserted into a reusable device that heats liquid nicotine, converting it into an inhalable aerosol.
Njoy’s products accounted for less than 3% of U.S. e-cigarette sales last year, according to Nielsen retail data. Vuse, owner Reynolds American Corporationand Juul control about 60% of the market, while hundreds of disposable brand account for the rest.
Most teens who vape use disposable e-cigarettes, including the following brands Elf Baravailable in flavors such as watermelon and blueberry ice.
The FDA said Altria’s data showed Njoy e-cigarettes help smokers reduce their exposure to harmful chemicals found in traditional cigarettes. The agency stressed that these products are neither safe nor “FDA approved” and should not be used by non-smokers.
Friday’s action is part of a sweeping FDA review to conduct a scientific review of the multibillion-dollar e-cigarette market after years of regulatory delays. There are currently thousands of fruit- and candy-flavored e-cigarettes on the market in the United States, which are technically illegal but widely available in convenience stores, gas stations and vape shops.
The FDA faces a self-imposed court deadline at the end of this month to end years of review of major e-cigarette brands such as Juul and Vuse.
These brands have been sold in the United States for many years and are awaiting FDA action on their scientific applications. To stay in the market, companies must prove that their e-cigarettes provide overall health benefits to smokers without being too attractive to children.
Matthew Farrelly of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said: “Based on our rigorous scientific review, in this case, the benefits of switching adult smokers entirely to less harmful products are sufficient to outweigh the risks to youth.
About The Author
