The FDA's Deadly Censorship of Lifesaving E-Cigarette Information
Regulators won't let manufacturers of vaping hardware and e-liquids tell their customers the truth.
Even if some e-cigarette companies survive the shakeout caused by onerous new federal regulations, they will not be allowed to talk about the main selling point of their products. In my latest Forbes column, I explain how and why the government is suppressing information about the health advantages of e-cigarettes:
The e-cigarette regulations that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unveiled last week pose a grave threat to products that have the potential to dramatically reduce smoking-related disease and death. The most obvious problem for the e-cigarette industry is that manufacturers of vaping equipment and e-liquids must persuade the FDA that allowing their products to remain on the market is "appropriate for the protection of public health"—a challenge that will be prohibitively expensive for all but the biggest companies and may prove impossible even for them. A lawsuit filed this week by Nicopure Labs, which sells e-liquids and vaping hardware, highlights another troubling aspect of the FDA's regulations: censorship of potentially lifesaving information about e-cigarettes.