Judge Clears Way for Imported E-Cigarettes

In a blow to the authority of the Food and Drug Administration and a victory for makers of electronic cigarettes, a federal judge today barred the U.S. from trying to regulate the smokeless tobacco products or prevent them from being imported into the country.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon blasted the FDA for trying to regulate the products, which are battery-powered or rechargeable devices that convert a liquid nicotine solution into a vapor. Electronic cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular alternatives to traditional cigarettes which have been banned in workplaces, bars, restaurants, and other locations.

The FDA had sought to block the importation of electronic cigarettes and claimed the authority to regulate them as tobacco products, but Judge Leon disagreed, according to a Reuters news report.

“This case appears to be yet another example of FDA’s aggressive efforts to regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs or devices,” he said in granting an injunction barring the FDA from regulating the cigarettes as a drug-device combination.

Shipments of hundreds of thousands of electronic cigarettes have been stopped at the U.S. border and detained by the FDA in the past year. Companies that make the products later sued the FDA claiming the detention of the products was illegal and infringing on their rights.

The FDA is expected to appeal the judge’s ruling, officials connected to the case said.

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