United States' federal regulation of e-Cigarettes

Abstract

The consumption of e-cigarettes has rapidly increased in recent years. This has generated extensive debates and controversies among the public health community, businesses, policy-makers, and consumers. In 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a rule that would potentially regulate the sale and use of this product. This rule, though not yet complete, has the potential to set effective laws and regulations regarding the manufacturing, distribution, and selling of e-cigarettes. However, as with most new products, a thorough scientific evaluation of e-cigarettes is still limited. This opens the door for debates between proponents of e-cigarettes, who believe in the harmless nature of this product compared to regular cigarettes, and/or the benefit of it as a cessation aid to quit smoking conventional tobacco, and their opponents, who consider it the same as combustible cigarettes which might cause serious tobacco-related illnesses.

Keywords

• e-cigarettes
• fda
• regulation
• smoking
• united states