US FDA OKs Vuse e-cigarette, its first vape authorization

US FDA OKs Vuse e-cigarette, its first vape authorization

 

The US Food and Drug Administration said last week it had authorized e-cigarette products for the first time ever, giving permission to R.J. Reynolds to sell three of its Vuse vape products.    "While today's action permits the tobacco products to be sold in the U.S., it does not mean these products are safe or 'FDA approved.' All tobacco products are harmful and addictive and those who do not use tobacco products should not start," the FDA said in a statement.    The FDA said it had denied the company permission to sell 10 flavored products but did not say what they were. The three authorized products are all tobacco flavored, and the FDA said they were less likely to appeal to children and teens, and more likely to be used by smokers to reduce their risk of harm.   "Today's authorizations are an important step toward ensuring all new tobacco products undergo the FDA's robust, scientific premarket evaluation," Mitch Zeller, who heads FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement.    "The manufacturer's data demonstrates its tobacco-flavored products could benefit addicted adult smokers who switch to these products -- either completely or with a significant reduction in cigarette consumption -- by reducing their exposure to harmful chemicals," Zeller added.    The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which advocates for the abolition of tobacco products, was not impressed.    "While it is a positive step that FDA denied applications for 10 flavored Vuse e-cigarettes, it is concerning that a product that has three times the nicotine concentration as legally permitted in Canada, the UK and Europe was authorized. Vuse products with this level of nicotine leaves our nation's youth at an undue risk of addiction," the group's president, Matthew L. Myers, said in a statement.