Recently, U. S. FDA has taken a decision to allow the sales of flavoured electronic cigarettes which is not a very wise decision for public health.

“While FDA announced that it will be stepping up enforcement against certain e-cigarette products, others will remain on the market, putting the health of U.S. youth at risk.

“This policy falls far too short. If we truly want to reduce the growing number of youth who are using e-cigarettes, we need to ban all flavoured tobacco products, including menthol.

“Though we laud FDA’s plan to require e-cigarette manufacturers to submit premarket applications for their products — including those already being sold — to the agency by May 12, the decision to continue sales in the meantime is deeply flawed.

“According to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey, more than 5 million youth U.S. say they used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, with nearly 1 million reporting daily use. A third of youth say they use the products because of flavours.

“To state it simply, this new FDA policy does not go far enough to protect U.S. youth. As long as flavoured e-cigarettes are on the market, children will find a way to access them.

“APHA will continue to urge Congress and the administration to address this public health crisis and completely remove all forms of flavoured e-cigarettes from every retail and online outlet. Our children deserve no less.”