On the eve of publication of new research that raises a major safety concern about electronic cigarettes, eight U.S. senators last week called on the Food and Drug Administration to take a hard look at the devices and the ways they're evolving—and to consider the emerging risks as they move to adopt a final rule on electronic cigarettes.
In a letter dated May 8, 2014, the senators referenced a study to be published this Thursday, May 15, in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. While the study remains under embargo until then, a New York Times article published last week highlighted its key findings, namely that certain high-powered e-cigarettes—known as "tank systems"—can reach high enough temperatures that they emit some of the same carcinogens, including formaldehyde, found in traditional tobacco smoke. That's significant, since one argument touted by e-cigarette proponents, and frequently cited on sites that sell e-cigs, is that they don't produce the toxins associated with traditional cigarette smoking.
Do the FDA's proposed regulations for e-cigarettes go far enough? We don't think so.
The forthcoming study is expected to show that the carcinogens are released via the vapor that the user exhales—basically the e-cigarette equivalent of secondhand smoke. "It is important that the [FDA] recognize the potential health impacts associated not only with the direct inhalation of liquid nicotine through e-cigarettes, but also the impacts that the emitting 'vapor' or 'plume' may have both to the user and any secondhand inhalers," the senators wrote.
The letter urged the agency to take the new findings into consideration as it moves to adopt final rules and regulations on e-cigarettes, which have as yet been unregulated. Proposed regulations released by the agency in April are open for public comment until July 8. At the close of last week, the FDA site had already logged more than 3,400 comments from consumers, industry representatives, health advocates, and others.
We'll report more on the study when it's released later this week. In the meantime, you can read the proposed rules and log a comment—or peruse the existing comments—on the FDA website. Interested in more information on e-cigarettes in general? Visit our Guide to E-Cigarettes.
—Jamie Kopf
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