The leader of the Iowa Department of Public Health’s anti-tobacco efforts is applauding the FDA ruling issued Thursday that will regulate electronic cigarettes and some other products the same way the government regulates traditional cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
Jerilyn Oshel is director of the Division for Tobacco Use Prevention and Control. “We know that tobacco control is definitely an evolving issue and things are changing every day, so we welcome this,” Oshel said.
The FDA rules will require companies to submit e-cigarettes and other new tobacco products for regulatory review. “One of the things that we’re still waiting on and one of the pieces in this law is to find out what’s truly in e-cigarettes,” Oshel said.
The new federal regulations also ban the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under age 18. Iowa already has that law on the books.
An Iowa Youth Survey released last year found roughly six-percent of kids, between 6th and 11th grade, reporting having used e-cigarettes. Among 11th graders alone, e-cigarette usage was at 11-percent.