The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must pull all unauthorized synthetic nicotine products from the market, Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative, said in a July 2022 statement.
Koval recommended that only e-cigarettes that have been FDA reviewed and meet public health requirements should remain on the market and asked the agency to accelerate the application review process for the most popular e-cigarette products.
The call to action comes after FDA extended its premarket tobacco product applications submission deadline and allowed manufactures to keep their products on the shelves during the review process.
“This action, under the guise of helping smokers by providing continued access to e-cigarettes during the review process, worked instead to enable the proliferation and appeal of these products to young people leaving our nation’s youth at risk for long-term nicotine addiction,” Koval said. “As for benefits to smokers, it has been five years since FDA’s 2017 decision and there is still insufficient evidence to show that these products help people either quit nicotine entirely or even switch completely from cigarettes.”
ONS and the smoking cessation community are advocating for FDA to take a more forceful approach to prevent the sale and distribution of electronic tobacco products. Advocacy and education from nurses are encouraged to help protect the public from flavored tobacco and the expanding vaping industry.