For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration allowed adult smokers to purchase menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes on Friday. This is the first time the agency has allowed vaping companies to offer goods without tobacco flavors.
The tobacco giant Altria recently acquired the vaping brand Njoy, and the FDA gave the go-ahead for Njoy to sell four menthol e-cigarettes. Regulators, however, added that they would consider requests for permission to sell flavored e-cigarettes on a case-by-case basis and that their decisions would affect Njoy’s four products.
The FDA said in a statement that it has concluded that using menthol-flavored e-cigarettes can lessen the risks associated with regular tobacco use. The FDA has concluded that a medicine is safe and effective for the purpose for which it was prescribed, but the agency made clear that it is not authorizing menthol vaping goods.
Rather, Njoy’s authorization by the government just signifies that it has been given regulatory clearance to advertise its goods to the general public.
“We are a data driven agency and will continue to follow the science to inform our review of premarket tobacco applications,”Ā Matthew Farrelly, director for the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, stated. “Based upon our rigorous scientific review, in this instance, the strength of evidence of benefits to adult smokers from completely switching to a less harmful product was sufficient to outweigh the risks to youth.”
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