FDA推出电子烟销售禁令

美国食品与药品管理局终于要对电子烟行业的无序增长出手了。

美国食品与药品管理局的高级官员日前对CNBC和《华盛顿邮报》表示，该局局长斯科特·戈特利布预计本周将对大多数口味的电子烟颁布禁令，以遏制电子烟在青少年中的风靡程度。

来自美国政府的初步数据显示，2018年，美国吸食电子烟的高中生和初中生的人数分别增长了77%和50%。也就是说，在2018年年初，美国已经有350万名未成年人在吸食电子烟。

虽然电子烟对身体的伤害不如烟草那样大，但研究表示，很多电子烟使用者最终会对尼古丁上瘾，其中的有些人就会去吸食普通香烟，而长期吸烟者半数都会因为由吸烟而引发的相关疾病死亡。此外，电子烟对健康的长期影响目前也是未知的。

美国食品与药品管理局计划在所有便利店和加油站禁售带香味的烟弹式电子烟。这些商品将仅能在电子烟和烟草商店内出售，因为这些商店能更好地执行年龄限令。

美国食品与药品管理局还打算限制电子烟的网上销售，直至电子烟制造商能较好地执行该局的年龄验证规定。另外，美国食品与药品管理局还计划禁止在普通香烟中添加薄荷醇，不过这肯定会遭到烟草行业的抵制。这些禁令可能需要几周甚至几个月的时间才能实施。

今年9月，美国食品与药品管理局要求Juul、英美烟草集团的Vuse、奥驰亚集团的MarkTen、帝国品牌的Blu E-cigs和日本烟草的Logic等五个电子烟品牌在上周日前提交避免未成年人使用电子烟的方案。该局局长斯科特·戈特利布还表示，食品与药品管理局将于11月中旬公布自己的方案。

奥驰亚集团表示，在食品与药品管理局对该公司产品进行审核和批准前，该公司将下架旗下的全部烟弹式电子烟产品，并停售除薄荷和烟草味之外的所有口味的产品。

美国食品与药品管理局的禁令将不包括薄荷味的电子烟，也就是说，消费者仍然能在便利店和加油站买到薄荷味的电子烟，直到薄荷味普通香烟在市场上全部下架。这是因为政府官员们担心，下架薄荷味电子烟会使促使消费者转而购买传统的薄荷香烟。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is pushing back against the unchecked growth of the e-cigarette industry.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb is expected this week to announce bans on most flavored e-cigarettes in an attempt to curb “epidemic” levels of teen e-cigarette use, senior FDA officials told CNBC and the Washington Post.

Preliminary government data showed ¬e-cigarette use rose 77% among high schoolers and nearly 50% among middle schoolers in 2018, meaning that 3.5 million minors were vaping in early 2018.

While vaping itself is less harmful than tobacco smoking, research shows many ¬e-cigarette users are likely to develop nicotine addictions and some will probably end up on regular cigarettes, a product that kills half of its long-term users. Plus, the long-term health effects of vaping are unknown.

The agency plans to prohibit sales of flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes in convenience stores and gas stations. Instead, they will only be sold in vape and tobacco shops, which enforce age restrictions better.

The FDA also plans to restrict online sales until manufacturers follow FDA-mandated guidelines for age verification. Gottlieb is also expected to propose banning menthol in regular cigarettes, which is sure to get pushback from the tobacco industry. The bans would likely take weeks, if not months, to implement.

In September, Gottlieb gave five e-cigarette manufacturers — Juul, British American Tobacco’s Vuse, Altria’s MarkTen, Imperial Brands’ Blu E-cigs and Japan Tobacco’s Logic — until last Sunday to submit proposals on how to combat youth e-cigarette use. He has said the FDA will share its own plan in mid-November.

Altria has already said it will remove its MarkTen pod-based products and will stop selling all flavors except for menthol or tobacco in its products until the FDA reviews and approves them.

The FDA’s flavor restrictions would exclude menthol, meaning menthol and mint vape products would still be allowed to be sold in convenience stores and gas stations — until the FDA removes menthol cigarettes from the market. Officials worry that removing menthol e-cigarettes would drive consumers to traditional menthol cigarettes.