A collection of popular vaping products include Suorin, Juul and Blu are displayed for Cheryl Phillips’ presentation at St. Joseph Mercy Canton Health Center in Canton on Monday, Sept. 24, 2018. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced a series of policies to attack what it calls “the epidemic use of electronic cigarettes and nicotine addiction among kids.” (Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Junfu Han | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
A bipartisan group of senators is urging acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Ned Sharpless to immediately pull most e-cigarettes off the market, including market leader Juul.
Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent Sharpless a letter Friday pushing the FDA to remove all pod and cartridge-based e-cigarettes until the agency can review their safety. The Trump administration last week announced it was preparing to remove flavored e-cigarettes until the FDA reviews them amid a surge in teen vaping.
Under the review process, companies will need to prove the products offer a “net public health benefit.”
“The FDA should apply this standard to all e-cigarettes through a pre-market review process, and, given the unique popularity and threat posed to children, the same reasonable restrictions and presumption of public health impact that are being imposed upon flavored products, should immediately be imposed upon cartridge-based e-cigarettes,” they wrote.
