Reps. Waxman, DeGette, and Pallone Renew Call for FDA Regulation of E-Cigarettes

WASHINGTON, DC— Today Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette, and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., sent a letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg warning that electronic cigarette companies are targeting young smokers with the same advertising and marketing practices that major cigarette companies used for decades to hook teen smokers. The members also released an online presentation that shows how the television advertisements, magazine advertisements, sport and event sponsorships, and cartoon characters once used by the cigarette companies to attract young smokers are now being used by the e-cigarette companies. The online presentation is available here.

Earlier this year, the members called on FDA to regulate e-cigarettes, highlighting findings from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the percentage of adolescents using e-cigarettes is growing rapidly. The CDC report suggested that e-cigarettes could serve as a gateway product to nicotine addiction.

The full text of today’s letter is available below and online here. The September 16, 2013, letter to Commissioner Hamburg is available online here.