WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, September 9, is the court-ordered deadline for manufacturers of e-cigarettes and certain other tobacco products to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to keep their products on the market. The following is a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Truth Initiative:
With the September 9 deadline, the FDA has yet another opportunity to reverse the current epidemic of youth e-cigarette use and stop tobacco companies from addicting a new generation of kids with e-cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. The FDA must protect kids and public health, not the interests of the tobacco industry. Our organizations call on the FDA to take the following critical actions:
Four long years after e-cigarettes, cigars and certain other tobacco products became subject to FDA oversight, manufacturers must finally obtain FDA authorization to continue selling these products. During those four years, youth e-cigarette use has skyrocketed to epidemic levels and millions of kids have been put at risk of nicotine addiction. The cause of this crisis is clear: tobacco companies have lured kids with appealing flavors and hooked them with massive doses of nicotine. The FDA must act decisively to stop them.
To gain FDA authorization to market a new tobacco product, federal law (the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act) requires manufacturers to demonstrate that the product is “appropriate for the protection of the public health.” In enforcing this standard, our organizations have urged the FDA to apply the following key principles:
The FDA’s application of these rigorous public health protections is especially critical in light of the clear evidence that tobacco companies have not changed and want to continue selling products that harm kids and public health. Manufacturers have applied to keep selling e-cigarettes that deliver the same massive doses of nicotine that caused the current youth addiction crisis and to sell these products with menthol and other flavors that appeals to kids. And the tobacco industry has waged a desperate effort to delay the September 9 deadline, exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic in its efforts to do so. This is an industry bent on addicting more kids, not protecting public health. The FDA must stand up to this predatory industry and protect the health of America’s kids.
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