I Believe in Do-Overs

Glad to see the FDA is taking one. For a year the agency has been rationalizing why it gave manufacturers of e-cigs an extended deadline to prove they aren't marketing to tweens and teens. Parents, pediatricians, educators and public health advocates all went nuts. Of course they are marketing to youth! The way they flavor, package, advertise on social media... it would take a complete ostrich to not acknowledge that young users were primo targets. The FDA was being that ostrich until today, when it decided to pull it's head out of the sand and make a move. We can criticize the agency's choices or applaud them for the pivot. Don't we all take do-overs as parents? It's okay to give them credit for the shift. They seem to need the encouragement.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, declared teen use of electronic cigarettes an "epidemic" and said the agency would be addressing the issue with "the largest coordinated tobacco compliance effort in FDA's history."Actions being considered -- but not yet undertaken -- include the immediate removal of certain flavored e-cigarettes from the market and shortening the time to market review for most cigarettes now being sold. READ MORE