WASHINGTON – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is
"pushing very hard" to release a proposed rule that would establish the
agency’s authority over electronic cigarettes, Reuters reports.
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told members of Congress during
a Senate budget hearing last week that it has taken too long to move the rule
forward, and that she expects the proposal to be ready “very soon.” The news
source adds that FDA’s proposal has been under review by the White House's
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for about five months.
The news source notes that U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
told Hamburg during the hearing the FDA’s delays were "disgraceful,”
noting that "Four years and four months to get the first draft over to OMB
is unacceptable and that for OMB to sit on the proposal for months is also
unacceptable.
Hamburg agreed that the criticisms were fair, notes Reuters.
"I do believe that very soon I will be able to call you, and say the
deeming rule is out," she said.
In 2009, the FDA was granted the authority to regulate the
manufacture and retail of tobacco products.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) is reporting that the number of calls to poison centers
involving e-cigarette liquids containing nicotine is increasing, going from one
call per month in September 2010 to 215 per month in February 2014.
CDC also found that more than half (51.1%) of the calls to
poison centers due to e-cigarettes involved children under age 5, and about 42%
of the poison calls involved people age 20 and older.
In response to the CDC’s report, Reynolds American Inc. says
that its Vuse e-cigarette is designed to “minimize chances for accidental
exposure.” Jason Healy, president of Lorillard Inc.’s Blu eCigs, told ABC News that
the CDC’s findings are “a weak argument” against e-cigarettes and evidence of
“an on-going attack on the e-cigs industry by various anti-smoking groups,”
reports the Winston-Salem Journal.