US FDA authorises first e-cigarette, says it can be beneficial for smokers

Health officials of the United States Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorised the first electronic cigarettes in the country and added that the vaping product can actually be beneficial to adult smokers.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, a major player in the industry, submitted the data of its product called ‘Vuse e-cigarettes’, which was backed by the healthcare federal body as a fix for smoking-related deaths in the United States.

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The Food and Drug Administration said that the use of the product could help smokers reduce the consumption of actual cigarettes and could even lead to the abandonment of the habit.

The case of such products was last taken up by the authorities in September this year, when the agency said that millions of such applications related to e-cigarettes were rejected due to their appeal to underage individuals.

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However, the authorisation was only given to Vuse’s Solo Power refillable product and the tobacco-flavoured nicotine cartridges. The federal authority further announced that 10 other requests from the company were rejected for vaping products, according to reports from Associated Press.

United States Food and Drug Administration’s director of the tobacco center Mitch Zeller said in a statement, “Today’s authorizations are an important step toward ensuring all new tobacco products undergo the FDA’s robust, scientific premarket evaluation”, according to reports from Associated Press.

Zeller added, “The manufacturer’s data demonstrates its tobacco-flavored products could benefit addicted adult smokers who switch to these products – either completely or with a significant reduction in cigarette consumption.”

In recent years, the vaping market grew to include hundreds of companies selling an array of devices and nicotine solutions in various flavors and strengths. But the vast majority of the market is controlled by a few companies including Juul Labs, which is partially owned by Altria, and Vuse.