FDA approves first menthol flavored e-cigarettes from Altria’s NJOY
NY Post
The Food and Drug Administration authorized four of Altria’s menthol e-cigarettes for sale in the country on Friday, making them the first ever flavored vapes the agency has permitted on the market.
The decision shows vape makers can provide evidence satisfying the FDA that the benefits their products offer in terms of helping smokers quit outweigh the risks posed to youth.
“In this instance, the strength of evidence of benefits to adult smokers from completely switching to a less harmful product was sufficient to outweigh the risks to youth,” said Matthew Farrelly, director of the Office of Science at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.
The FDA first began regulating e-cigarettes in August 2016 and it has authorized 27 e-cigarette products for sale in the U.S. to date, including Altria-owned NJOY’s menthol vape products.
The regulator has rejected the vast majority of the 26 million applications it has reviewed so far, including from British American Tobacco, and all of those relating to flavored products.
This has sparked pushback from the industry, with manufacturers launching court cases to challenge its decisions, some of which were successful.
