Vaping Faces Bans, Hearings and Investigations

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—This week, two Congressional hearings called into question the safety of e-cigarettes and examined the reported illnesses.

Yesterday, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight of Investigations held a hearing entitled, “Sounding the Alarm:  The Public Health Threat of E-Cigarettes.” A slate of public health officials testified before the Subcommittee, including the Acting Commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration Ned Sharpless.

When questioned by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Acting Commissioner Sharpless confirmed that the FDA would soon publish its final guidance on e-cigarettes implementing the Trump Administration’s proposed ban on all flavored e-cigarettes except for tobacco until the FDA grants official approval for certain products to be on the market.

Sharpless confirmed that the FDA’s guidance would be enforced across retail channels – banning the products from brick-and-mortar stores and the Internet.  This is a change from the agency’s draft guidance which prioritized enforcement in convenience stores over adult-only stores like vape stores and tobacco stores.

By May 2020, all e-cigarette manufacturers will have to apply for new product approval through the FDA’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway. FDA could grant approval for manufacturer’s flavored products to come back onto the market.

In yesterday’s hearing, Democratic members widely believe that they should be off the market until approval is granted by the FDA.

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing on Tuesday entitled, ““Don’t Vape: Examining the Outbreak of Lung Disease and CDC’s Urgent Warning Not to Use E-Cigarettes.” According to NPR, parents of teens that have been impacted by the lung disease outbreak testified. About 67% of people affected by vaping-related illnesses are between the ages of 18 and 34, and 16% are under 18 years old.

States are also reacting to the rising number of reported illnesses. Yesterday, the Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo signed an executive order banning the sale of flavored vaping products throughout the state, according to the Washington Post. She also directed the state’s department of health to create regulations based on her order. The move comes as government and health officials in the United States and abroad seek more information on the health effects of vaping.

That decision came a day after Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker moved to temporarily ban the sale of all vaping products amid a wave of mysterious vaping-related illnesses around the United States, according to Politicopro.com.

The Republican governor's emergency declaration goes further than the temporary flavor bans announced by Democratic governors in Michigan and New York. The Massachusetts ban would prohibit the online and retail sale of all flavored and non-flavored vaping products through January 25, 2020, including vaping products containing marijuana, which is legal to use in Massachusetts.

“We need to pause sales in order for medical experts to collect more information about what is driving these life-threatening vaping related illnesses,” Baker said in a press conference Wednesday. “E-cigarette usage is exploding, and it is clear there is a very real danger to the population."

Baker said 41% of all youth in Massachusetts in 2017 reported trying e-cigarettes, and about 20% reported using them regularly. According to the CDC, there have been more than nine deaths related to vaping nationwide, and 530 people have illnesses linked to vaping, WJLA in Washington reported.

The FDA’s final guidance will be published in the coming weeks.

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