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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This is great news! The FDA was overstepping its authority
Steve
Nicotine is a drug. The e-cigarette is a delivery device. FDA has a mandate to regulate these things. What is it that the judge doesn’t understand about this? Appeal, by all means, to a higher and more intelligent authority.
I agree with Steve. This Judge wasn’t going to allow them to overstep their authority…and good for him! Seems the FDA wants to make everything except food a priority. I’ve heard more news about this from the FDA than many other issues they should be more vigorously regulating.
r l collins does not seem to understand the issue or the decision. Collins says that nicotine is a drug and the e-cigarette is a delivery device. So then nicotine is a drug, and the cigarette is a delivery device. The FDA wants to say one is a drug and the other isn’t. That one requires proven safety and the other doesn’t. That one is dangerous and the other isn’t. Which is which? The FDA wants to play both sides of the fence to keep big pharma and big tobacco happy. The judge saw through it. Good for him.
Jamie doesn’t seem to understand. Cigarettes contain tobacco and tobacco HAPPENS to contain nicotine (natural defense against insects). It’s virtually impossible to get an overdose of nicotine from tobacco. On the other hand, the purpose of e-cigs is to deliver pure nicotine. Your argument doesn’t hold water. Are you saying nicotine patches shouldn’t be regulated as well? Because I see no difference between e-cigs and patches or nicotine gum for that matter. They all should have specifications, which have been tested and agreed to by the FDA, as to the amount of chemical delivered to the body just like any other drug.