Reed co-authored report calls for regulation of e-cigarette marketing

Electronic cigarette makers are targeting young people with their marketing efforts, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and a group of other lawmakers said in a harsh report that calls for immediate regulation of the growing industry by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Eleven lawmakers co-signed a report claiming e-cigarette makers are making a concerted effort to reach young American, flavoring their products to appeal to young palettes, leveraging social media and sponsoring youth-oriented events.

Reed said the report, culled in part from voluntary responses from major e-cigarette makers themselves as well as a review of public marketing materials, “highlights a disturbing trend.”

“E-cigarette manufacturers should have to play by the same rules as others in the cigarette industry,” Reed said. ”We have come a long way since I proposed legislation in the late nineties to keep tobacco companies from advertising to children, but federal law has not kept pace with new nicotine delivery products,.The FDA should expand its regulatory oversight to include these e-cigarette products and move quickly to curtail the marketing of these nicotine devices to young people.”

- Advertisement -

To date, e-cigarettes – battery operated devices that heat liquid nicotine and result in water vapor being emitted – have been exempted from FDA regulations that apply to traditional cigarettes, including a ban on marketing directly to young people and use in public places.

The report found that a majority of major e-cigarette makers market products using flavor names that sound like candy, such as Cherry Crush and Chocolate Treat. Overall marketing by electronic cigarette makers more than doubled between 2012 and 2013.

In addition to calling for regulatory action, the report suggests e-cigarette companies, some of whom have already publicly supported restrictions aimed at prohibiting sales of the products to minors, voluntarily refrain from television and radio advertising

Rhode Island has wrestled with how to regulate the products. Last fall, Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin joined 40 of his counterparts in calling for FDA regulations to keep the products out of the hands of children. But a bill that would have banned sales of e-cigarettes to minors in Rhode Island was vetoed last summer by Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who said more comprehensive regulations were needed.
This year, lawmakers are debating a bill that would impase an 80 percent tax on the manufacturer’s price of the products. Funds from that tax are included in Chafee’s proposed budget.

Rhode Island is home to least one e-cigarette maker. Darlington-based Vaporetti makes and sells both the electronic cigarette devices and the liquid nicotine products, offering flavors such as hazelnut cream and Italian Tuscan truffle.

Asked for a comment on the evolving regulatory environment, Vaporetti founder Lisa Ciarlone referred to a statement from Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association President Phil Daman, who said that although the products are not intended for use by young people, “there is no evidence that use of e-cigarettes and vapor products may lead to or contribute to the use of combustible cigarettes, by teenagers or by anyone else.”

No posts to display