FDA rules bad for public health

The US Food and Drug Administration’s electronic-cigarette regulations, which took effect this week, immediately struck two blows against public health, according to a story by Jacob Sullum for Forbes.

As from Monday, companies that sell vaping equipment and e-liquids have been forbidden to share potentially life-saving information about those products with their customers.

The have also been forbidden to sell products that they have made safer, more convenient or more pleasant to use.

‘The FDA’s censorship and its ban on innovation will discourage smokers from switching to vaping, even though that switch would dramatically reduce the health risks they face,’ Sullum wrote.

‘That effect will be compounded by the FDA’s requirement that manufacturers obtain its approval for any vaping products they want to keep on the market for longer than two years.

‘The cost of meeting that requirement will force many companies out of business and force those that remain to shrink their offerings, dramatically reducing competition and variety.

‘All of this is unambiguously bad for consumers and bad for public health. Yet the FDA took none of it into account when it estimated the costs imposed by its regulations, simply assuming that good intentions would ensure good results.’

Sullum’s piece is at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/2016/08/11/fda-assigns-zero-value-to-smokers-who-die-because-of-its-e-cigarette-regulations/#f1dc6e0913aa