Saturday, 11 August 2018 18:54

By Dr Farsalinos

Few months ago, the FDA announced an ANPRM for flavors in tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. They then opened a public comment docket where anyone could submit commentaries, opinions, proposals and data.

As you may know, I am always trying my best to submit comments whenever there is this possibility, raising concerns and presenting potential problems with proposed regulations throughout the world. In this case, I also submitted a file which was NOT a comment or an opinion piece but the data from the big US Flavors survey that we completed in May. The study and questionnaire was designed by myself and Dr Christopher Russell. The sample consisted of individuals aged 18 and older living in the US who have ever used an e-cigarette (even a single puff). They were invited to complete an online questionnaire that was available through FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliant software. Double entries were excluded through the IP address.

In brief, we found extensive use of non-tobacco flavors among all smoking subgroups, including former smokers who were using e-cigarettes at the time of smoking cessation. Similar patterns were observed not only at e-cigarette use initiation but also at the time of smoking cessation and at the time of survey participation. Fruit and dessert/pastry/bakery flavors were the most prevalent choices of the adult established, dedicated US e-cigarette users who participated to this study. The same flavors were also considered particularly important in their effort to quit smoking and to prevent relapse to smoking.

For anyone interested in reading the file we submitted to the FDA, you can find it here.