Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”
(April 27th, 2015, New York, United States) – World Lung Foundation today urged the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to move ahead with the implementation of new tobacco control laws – including the regulation of e-cigarettes – designed to protect consumers, particularly youth. It has been one year since FDA proposed its deeming notice but progress since then has been mired in spurious objections from the tobacco and e-cigarette industries and their supporters. In addition, reports indicate that key proposals such as the regulation of premium cigars and a ban on internet sales of e-cigarettes were removed during a review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Meanwhile, many other countries around the world – including low and middle income countries in Asia and Africa – have moved ahead with progressive tobacco control regulations to protect their citizens.
Dr Neil Schluger, Chief Scientific Officer, World Lung Foundation, commented: “Nearly half a million Americans will have died from tobacco-related disease in the past year, since the FDA proposed its deeming legislation. At a federal level, nothing has changed to prevent similar levels of death and disease in the coming years. If anything, we can only expect the picture to worsen as we learn more about the harms of various tobacco products. A recent study by American Cancer Society found that many more deaths were related to tobacco than previously thought. New research shows that youth use of all tobacco products has remained static and indeed the use of e-cigarettes in this demographic has trebled, while the use of hookah has doubled. Four out of every ten middle-to-high school students have used flavored cigars. All these products use misleading information, appealing marketing and youth-friendly flavors to mask their true nature, leading to addiction and harm.
“Yet while the use of these products (and their consequent harm) escalates, federal tobacco control regulation has fallen behind many other countries. E-cigarettes are banned in many Central and South American, European, Middle Eastern and Asian countries including Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Brunei, Indonesia, Mexico, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and the UAE. Many other countries including Australia and most European countries have regulated e-cigarettes. Indeed, once Europe’s Tobacco Products Directive becomes law, the USA will be one of only a handful of countries not to have some form of regulation in place.
“US consumers aren’t just being harmed by the unfettered growth of e-cigarettes, hookah and cigars. They’re also being kept in the dark about the real harms of tobacco. Current text-based warning labels on tobacco products are significantly behind the most advanced countries like Australia, which has introduced plain packaging and large graphic warnings – with countries like Ireland, the UK and France following suit. Across Asia and Africa, large graphic warnings of at least 70% of the pack size are being introduced. Yet again, graphic warnings in the USA are stuck in limbo.
“The truth is that the tobacco industry is fighting to delay and derail regulation in the USA. Turkey shows us why this is the case; new comprehensive tobacco control laws have directly led to a 20% decrease in smoking prevalence. The FDA and US courts need to stop playing big tobacco’s game. It’s time for the deeming rule to come into force. We urge FDA to proceed with regulation of all tobacco products – including e-cigarettes – without further delay.”
About tobacco use in the United States
According to The Tobacco Atlas, 17.2 percent of men and 14.2 percent of women smoke tobacco in the United States. This means that over 40 million adults smoke cigarettes every day. A further 3.4% of adults use smokeless tobacco products, which also cause harm. Nearly 200,000 boys and girls say they smoke cigarettes every day. Every year, tobacco-related disease kills nearly half a million US citizens. In 2010, 19.2 percent of male deaths and 15.8 percent of female deaths were caused by tobacco.