A move that freed the e-cigarette industry from stringent regulation

Smaller-time ego electronic cigarette manufacturers’ lobbying has already heated up in foreign capitals, and domestically, in statehouses such as that in Oklahoma. And NJOY’s entry into the federal-level fray follows some low-level lobbying by other e-cigarette interests, such as CB Distributors, a wholesaler to convenience stores. The now defunct Electronic Cigarette Association, a trade group formerly headed by current U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., lobbied four years ago in support of laws banning the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.

Modern e-cigarettes — small plastic tubes that seek to deliver the look, feel and nicotine buzz of traditional smokes — have been subject to little federal regulation since they entered the U.S. market from China in 2007.

NJOY, formerly Sottera Inc., successfully sued the FDA in 2009 to be regulated as a tobacco product, a move that freed the e-cigarette industry from stringent regulation and allowed it to double its market share annually, according to a Forbes report.

The FDA originally announced that electronic cigarette atomizer would be regulated as a dsd43DS“drug delivery device,” which requires each product to meet the same safety and efficacy standards as nicotine patches, gums and other smoking cessation products before reaching consumers. Health advocates and lobbyists are concerned and have themselves lobbied the federal government on smoke-free workplace laws, the regulation of e-cigarettes and online tobacco sales.

The American Heart Association spent more than $136,000 lobbying the federal government on tobacco-related issues, including the regulation of ego electronic cigarette smokeless tobacco products last year, Senate filings reveal.

“There are no requirements for ingredient disclosure. No regulation at all for safety,” said Bronson Frick, a lobbyist for the self-explanatory Americans for Nonsmokers’ rights. “It’s best to think of e-cigarettes as hundreds of individual products, because they are all manufactured differently.”

This rising popularity and scant government oversight has provoked a backlash from public health advocates like Frick, who worry about the e-cigarette industry’s lack of quality control and marketing tactics.