FDA Will Extend Oversight to All Tobacco Products Including E-Cigarettes

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday announced it is extending its oversight to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, Reuters reports. The agency will ban sales of e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco and hookah tobacco to people under age 18.

Companies will be required to submit all tobacco products to the FDA for regulatory review. They will have to provide the agency with a list of product ingredients and place health warnings on their product packages and in ads.

The move allows the agency “to improve public health and protect future generations from the dangers of tobacco use through a variety of steps, including restricting the sale of these tobacco products to minors nationwide,” the FDA said in a statement.

The new rules, which go into effect in 90 days, will not allow e-cigarettes, hookah tobacco or cigars to be sold to anyone under the age of 18 years (both in person and online); require age verification by photo ID; prohibit the selling of covered tobacco products in vending machines (unless in an adult-only facility); and prohibit the distribution of free samples.

In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that found e-cigarettes are now the most widely used tobacco product among teens. E-cigarette use rose among middle school and high school students from 2011 to 2015, the report found.

Three million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in 2015, an increase of 2.5 percent from the previous year. Among high school students, e-cigarette use rose from 1.5 percent to 16 percent, according to the report. Among middle school students, e-cigarette use increased from 0.6 percent to 5.3 percent during that period.