A new study funded by the FDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows that bans on flavored e-cigarettes lead to a decline in e-cigarette sales and an increase in cigarette sales. The study’s authors said that for every 0.7ml of e-cigarettes that were not sold due to flavor restrictions, 15 cigarettes were used instead.
Currently, seven states and nearly 400 local governments in the United States have passed laws restricting the sale of non-tobacco e-cigarette flavors. In addition, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products has rejected more than one million premarket tobacco applications (PMTAs) for flavored e-cigarette oils and prefilled e-cigarettes, saying it is unlikely to authorize flavored e-cigarette products.
Such policies would encourage e-cigarette users of all ages to replace flavored e-cigarettes with cigarettes, which would be detrimental to both individual and public health, the study said.
In a paper, researchers Abigail Friedman and Alyssa Crippen (Yale University), Alex Lieber (Georgetown University) and Michael Pesco (University of Missouri) explains the findings, but has not yet been peer-reviewed.
