Washington, D.C. – Reps. Annie Kuster (NH-02), Chris Pappas (NH-01), and Ro Khanna (CA-17) sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the administration to improve warning labels on e-cigarette products. Specifically, the letter calls on the FDA to require that e-cigarette products caution consumers about carcinogenic ingredients, direct consumers to the product website, and explicitly advise against use.

 

Over the past decade, research has exposed numerous health hazards associated with e-cigarettes. E-cigarette users, largely children, teenagers, and young adults, must be fully informed of these risks. The FDA has taken important steps to publicize the harms of nicotine. However, there are hundreds of other lesser-known cancer-causing chemicals in e-cigarette products that endanger consumers. Under the Tobacco Control Act, the FDA is responsible for regulating e-cigarette products to preserve public health. The Members urge the agency to uphold their duty by identifying all carcinogenic chemicals in e-cigarettes and widely advertising the dangers of these chemicals.

 

“Consumers cannot make informed decisions to protect their health if they do not have access to the facts about the hazardous ingredients in e-cigarettes,” the Members wrote in their letter. “The FDA and HHS should improve messaging to the public regarding the public health threat associated with non-nicotine ingredients in these vaping products.”

 

Representatives Kuster, Pappas, and Khanna were joined by five other co-signers: Katie Porter (CA-47), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Steve Cohen (TN-9), Nydia Velázquez (NY-7), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25).

 

The letter has also been endorsed by Less Cancer, a non-profit working to increase cancer prevention efforts in the United States and around the world.

 

“I am grateful for the teamwork and leadership of Representative Ro Khanna, Representative Chris Pappas, and Representative Annie Kuster to protect the public from unnecessary and preventable health risks. I also wish to thank Less Cancer's Board of Directors and Scientist, Author Mindi Messmer for their leadership as well,” said Less Cancer Founder Bill Couzens. 

 

Scientist and author Mindi Messmer said, “Most people don’t know that they are inhaling dangerous chemicals when they or their children vape. That’s because manufacturers are not required to disclose – and they don’t – that e-cigarette liquids may contain hundreds of chemical substances that are known to cause cancer and other chronic diseases. I am so thankful that U.S. Representatives Khanna, Pappas, and Kuster and Less Cancer have alerted FDA about the need to reign in manufacturers on this dangerous public health threat caused by vaping.”

 

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

 

–

  

The Honorable Xavier Becerra

Secretary

Department of Health and Human Services

200 Independence Ave, S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20201

 

The Honorable Robert Califf, MD

Commissioner

Food and Drug Administration

10903 New Hampshire Ave

Silver Spring, MD 20993

 

Dear Secretary Becerra and Commissioner Califf:

 

We write to express our concerns that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have not taken enforcement action to address dangerous and cancer-causing chemicals beyond nicotine in e-cigarette products which jeopardizes the health of millions of children.

 

The FDA is responsible for protecting public health by regulating e-cigarettes under the Tobacco Control Act (TCA).[1] In 2016, the FDA issued a final rule deeming all products that meet the definition of a tobacco product to be subject to FDA authority. Under the TCA, no new e-cigarette is permitted onto the market unless its manufacturer first proves to the FDA that the product is “appropriate for the protection of public health.”[2] The FDA has further authority to protect public health under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to regulate unsafe vaping products, including those that are not tobacco products.

 

Studies have proven that many e-cigarette liquids contain hundreds of chemical substances.[3] Substances identified in e-cigarette liquids and aerosols include solvent carriers including propylene glycol (PG) and glycerol, tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), aldehydes, metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phenolic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), flavorings, tobacco alkaloids, and drugs.[4]  Many of these chemicals are known or reasonably anticipated to be carcinogenic such as benzene, styrene, formaldehyde, methylene chloride, and acetaldehyde.[5]

 

We appreciate the FDA taking enforcement actions against vaping products with unapproved new drugs and unproven health claims. However, consumers cannot make informed decisions to protect their health if they do not have access to the facts about the hazardous ingredients in e-cigarettes.[6] While the CDC website states that “e-cigarettes can contain other harmful substances besides nicotine,” the FDA and HHS should improve messaging to the public regarding the public health threat associated with non-nicotine ingredients in these vaping products.[7] 

 

We respectfully request that FDA and HHS require manufacturers to take the following steps to notify the public of the potential health threat associated with e-cigarette use. We request that FDA:

• Identify chemicals that the HHS National Toxicology Program considers to be known or anticipated carcinogens.
• Require manufacturers to list the chemicals contained in the e-cigarette products on the product website.
• Require e-cigarette products and marketing materials reference the website with a warning statement about the chemical ingredients and caution against consumption of the e-cigarettes by children, teens, and adults.

 

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to receiving your responses soon and working with you to address the public health harm that e-cigarettes pose to our children.

 

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