Vuse Solo: US FDA approves e-cigarette for the first time

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E-cigarettes are a good alternative for smokers

Photo: Mauro Grigollo / Image Source / Getty Images

E-cigarettes can help nicotine addicts to get rid of conventional tobacco products, but they can also introduce young people to smoking.

Are they therefore of health benefit to the population as a whole - or do they cause more damage?

Experts have been discussing this for years.

In this area of ​​tension, the US drug agency FDA has now approved the sale of an e-cigarette for the first time.

The product from RJ Reynolds can help smokers to reduce their consumption of conventional cigarettes.

This means that they are significantly less exposed to their harmful chemicals.

The aerosols from the e-cigarette are much less dangerous.

Tuesday's decision only applies to Vuse's Solo e-cigarette and its tobacco-flavored nicotine cartridges.

Neither safe nor recommended - but legal to buy

The products can now be legally sold in the US, but at the same time the FDA emphasized that they are neither safe nor "not FDA approved" and that people who do not smoke should not use them.

"Today's approvals are an important step in ensuring that all new tobacco products undergo FDA scientific evaluation prior to launch," said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Tobacco Products Division.

The FDA said it has declined ten more requests from the company for other flavored products.

The agency is still checking whether they will allow a menthol-flavored liquid from this manufacturer.

In addition, the FDA reserves the right to revoke the approval "for a variety of reasons" if it turns out that the e-cigarette is no longer useful for public health, for example due to a significant increase in the number of young consumers.

E-cigarettes have been sold in the United States for more than a decade with minimal government oversight or research.

Due to a court deadline, the FDA has conducted a full review of the products to determine which ones will be allowed to remain in the market.

The benefits must outweigh the risks

The agency announced in September that it had rejected applications for around one million vaporizers and liquids.

In order to stay in the market, manufacturers need to demonstrate convincingly that their products have public health benefits.

So what you need to prove is that adults who smoke are likely to quit or reduce their smoking using e-cigarettes, while teenagers are unlikely to become addicted.

Tobacco expert Kenneth Warner of the University of Michigan's School of Public Health said the approval was a positive step. But he complained that only one product made by a large tobacco company could win FDA approval. The requirements of the FDA are so high "that only companies with enormous resources and personnel - in terms of scientists, lawyers, researchers - can successfully submit applications," said Warner. He advocates that smaller businesses and vape shops should be able to obtain approval for their products in a different way.

While hundreds of companies in the US sell e-cigarettes, few companies control the vast majority of the market.

All of them now have to get their products approved by the FDA.

Juul Labs is the market leader and Vuse is the second largest brand in the USA.

Parent company RJ Reynolds sells Newport, Camel and other traditional cigarettes.

Popular flavors: strawberry, mango, lemonade

The FDA cited the number of teenagers using e-cigarettes as alarming.

The authority has therefore already taken a number of measures, such as restricting flavors to tobacco and menthol.

Polls earlier this year showed that Vuse was the second most popular e-cigarette brand in high schools.

The FDA said it was aware of Vuse's popularity but decided to approve its tobacco-flavored variety "because these products are less attractive to teenagers and approval of these products may be beneficial to adult smokers."

The most popular brand among teenagers was a disposable e-cigarette called the Puff Bar, which comes in flavors like pink lemonade, strawberry, and mango.

Disposable e-cigarettes are not subject to the same restrictions as vaporizers and liquids.

wbr / AP