Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is disappointed by the Food and Drug Administration’s “timid and tepid” proposed rules for electronic cigarettes – and he wants more, as soon as possible.

The FDA’s batch of proposed rules unveiled Thursday would require mandatory ingredient reporting, nicotine warning labels, a nationwide ban on sales to minors, and prohibitions on free samples and public vending machines.

The FDA resisted calls from Blumenthal and a group of Democratic lawmakers to take a more forceful approach, including reining in flavor options, advertising and online sales – all of which they say contribute to underage use.

“I hope they will act within six months” to restrict flavor options and ban online sales, Blumenthal tells U.S. News. “I’m not saying that I will introduce a bill [if the FDA does not act], but I would certainly consider it.”

The rules proposed Thursday will be open for a 75-day public comment period, after which the FDA can either formalize the regulations or issue a revised proposal.

FDA spokesman Jeff Ventura tells U.S. News the rules may be augmented over time. Internet sales would not initially be altered by the proposed age limit – although many vendors voluntarily ask buyers to identify their birth date.

“On Internet sales, FDA must first bring the products under our authority,” Ventura says. “Then, FDA may put in place restrictions on the sale and distribution of the newly deemed products. These restrictions require separate rule-making and comment.”

Blumenthal says he recognizes a possible role for e-cigarettes in helping smokers quit. But he says fruit and candy flavors certainly aren’t intended for adults – an inflammatory charge for many e-cigarette users.

“Most of the smokers who use e-cigarettes as devices to stop smoking prefer the tobacco flavored cigarettes, not the candy flavored,” he says. “The candy flavors are designed to appeal to children and people who are not smoking now.”

“There is no evidence to support that claim. He just made it up,” retorts Carl V. Phillips, scientific director of the grass-roots lobbying group Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA).

Jason Healy, president of the widely available blu eCigs brand, tells U.S. News "I'm concerned that anyone, senator or otherwise, is again trying to move the conversation and regulatory environment away from science-based decisions.”

“The FDA,” Healy says, “has allowed for comment and regulatory sculpting through science and data, and if people cannot supply that information then they should not look to sculpt regulations outside of this framework based on their own narrow and uninformed opinions.”

Phillips says tobacco flavoring is common in inexpensive disposable e-cigarettes. “That does not mean people like it better, but merely it is what is available at the gas station,” he says. “What we do know, from our own research and others', is that a large majority of experienced e-cigarette users strongly prefer non-tobacco flavors.”

Longtime smokers often lose their taste for combustible cigarettes after moving to non-tobacco flavors, Phillips says.



After the FDA’s announcement Thursday the response from e-cigarette advocates was largely relief, but also caution.

CASAA held back from issuing an immediate call to action to its 12,000 members, citing a need to read between the lines of the 241-page document. But retired health professionals currently working in the industry gave a thumbs up.

Charles Connor, past president of the American Lung Association and a senior adviser to the Electronic Cigarette Industry Group, said the rules “[appear] to lay the foundation for a new and comprehensive nicotine policy that will save lives.”

Richard Carmona, former U.S. Surgeon General and a scientific adviser at e-cigarette maker NJOY, called the package “a good first step.”