Democrat wants FDA ban on marketing e-cigs to children

A House Democrat is calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban e-cigarette flavors and celebrity marketing practices that she says target children.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) wrote to the FDA Monday warning e-cigarette makers are trying to entice children with flavors such as “chocolate, gummy bear, bubble gum and strawberry.” She also warned the industry is using “celebrity endorsements” to encourage young people to take up smoking the nicotine vaporizers.

{mosads}“Due to the growth in child and adolescent experimentation with these alternative delivery systems, I urge the FDA to move quickly to ban child-friendly flavorings and youth-oriented marketing practices,” DeLauro said.

The Connecticut lawmaker also said nicotine poisoning in children is on the rise because nicotine cartridges used in e-cgarettes are not childproof. She adds the FDA should act immediately to allow only childproof cartridges on the market.

Senate Democrats are already pushing legislation to demand nicotine cartridges are childproof, a measure which has been supported by the e-cigarette industry.

Earlier this year the FDA proposed rules to regulate the e-cigarette industry by requiring health warnings on their packaging and banning their sales to minors.

DeLauro says the FDA should update the rules and issue a final regulation not later than April of next year.