FDA moving on e-cigs

The commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration Scott Gottlieb has said that the agency is considering whether it could bring electronic cigarettes into the over-the-counter (OTC) regulatory pathway, according to a CNBC report relayed by the TMA.
Gottlieb said the OTC pathway would give the agency more tools to look at both safety and benefit, study whether or not an e-cigarette promoted smoking cessation, and study toxicity and the way it affects the lung.
This move was said to be part of the sweeping plan to overhaul tobacco regulation that the Commissioner announced in July.
“At the very time I am trying to take nicotine out of combustible tobacco, I don’t want to be sweeping the market of products that provide an alternative to smokers who want to get access to nicotine,” Gottlieb said.
The idea flows from the FDA’s continuum of risk policy that recognizes that conventional cigarettes are the most harmful and other nicotine products are potentially less risky.