National Academies Report Makes Clear: FDA Must Use Its Full Authority to Protect the Public Health from E-Cigarettes

Statement of Harold P. Wimmer, National President and CEO of the American Lung Association, in response to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine ("Academies") "Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes" consensus study report.

"The Academies' thorough and comprehensive review of the science shows clear and convincing evidence that FDA must use its full oversight authority over e-cigarettes to protect the public health. The report makes clear: using e-cigarettes causes health risks, increases the chance that children and youth will start to use combustible tobacco products and exposes others to dangerous secondhand e-cigarette emissions. This is an addictive product that requires much closer scrutiny by the FDA. 

"This report, which was done at the behest of Congress, must be used to put an end to the tobacco industry's lingering rhetoric that these products are "safe" and don't need FDA oversight. This report underscores the grave mistake FDA made in July when it announced it would postpone by five years the legal requirement that e-cigarette manufacturers submit their products for FDA review in order to determine whether they should stay on the marketplace. E-cigarettes have become the most popular tobacco product among youth, continuing to attract and addict our kids to nicotine while exposing them to potentially dangerous toxins and carcinogens. FDA must enforce the Tobacco Control Act in order to protect the public health from e-cigarettes."