Philippines’ FDA stymied on e-cigarettes

The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is said to have questioned how electronic cigarettes have gone on sale to the public without clearance from the agency, according to a Cebu City Sun Star story.

The director of the FDA, Dr. Kenneth Go, was quoted as asking how, since electronic cigarettes did not pass through the agency, they had entered the country with “all sorts of positive health benefits” being claimed for them.

However, Go seemed to answer his own question when he said that the FDA could not block the sale of electronic cigarettes because of a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court on the FDA’s authority to regulate tobacco and its by-products.

The TRO was issued in a favor of the Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI).

Go said that if the TRO were lifted, the FDA would have the authority to regulate electronic cigarettes.