ndslk;hg6rAn amendment to appropriations legislation working its way through the House would change the date so more e-cigarettes would be grandfathered in.
The proposed rule was released more than two years ago in April 2014 and the final rule gives the industry two additional years to comply. The industry will have had "plenty of time to submit their applications," says Robin Koval, CEO of the Truth Initiative, an anti-tobacco health group.
However, stores have to comply with the rule in about three months (90 days from its publication May 10), and Zeller says contractors tasked with enforcement will be ready to "hit the ground running" on Day 91.
Koval says "it's perfectly reasonable" that people should know what's in something that "you inhale into your lungs."
Ellen Hahn, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing and co-chair of the UK Tobacco-free Task Force, said the new rule is a good first step toward controlling e-cigarettes. "From a health perspective, to reduce the social acceptance of them is good because frankly, it's the wild, wild West out there," she says. "Vape stores are everywhere."
She says so-called "vaping" can get kids hooked on nicotine and threatens to prolong "the tobacco epidemic." E-cigarette use has been rising steadily, especially among youth. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, e-cigarette use among high school students rose from 1.5% in 2011 to 16% in 2015. Federal health officials estimate that around 3 million middle and high school students currently use e-cigarettes.
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says the rule announced Thursday falls short in protecting children because it doesn't restrict the use of sweet e-cigarette flavors such as gummy bear and cotton candy even though the FDA's own data shows flavors play a big role in youth use.
Industry experts say treating e-cigarettes, which don't contain tobacco, the same as...