RECOMMENDATIONS FOR U.S. PUBLIC POLICIES REGULATING ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES

Introduction:
This text provides recommendations for regulating electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in the United States. The authors propose a regulatory framework that addresses the major public health challenges and opportunities raised by e-cigarettes, while acknowledging the rapidly evolving market and relatively small research base. The text emphasizes the need for policymakers to act with imperfect information to minimize harms and potential unintended consequences, while trying to maximize the potential to help cigarette smokers quit.

Key Points:

* The authors propose a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes based on the proportionality principle, which suggests regulations proportionate to a product's risks relative to combustible tobacco products.
* The authors support regulating e-cigarettes less stringently than combustible tobacco products, subject to revision if evidence emerges that the toxicity and harm of e-cigarettes to users and nonusers have been underestimated.
* The text identifies several policy areas for e-cigarette regulation, including constituents and health effects, flavors, fire safety, nicotine poisoning/child safety, youth access, marketing, taxation, clean air, and product warnings.
* The authors propose several recommendations for each policy area, such as ingredient disclosure, nicotine regulation, product testing for inhalation safety, disposal instructions, banning the sale of flavored solutions at stores near schools, reducing youth exposure to marketing through advertising restrictions, and taxing e-cigarettes at a rate lower than cigarettes but high enough to discourage youth uptake.
* The authors suggest that e-cigarette use should be prohibited in environments where cigarette smoking is prohibited and that warnings on products and advertisements should describe e-cigarette health risks and risks of addiction to nicotine.
* The text emphasizes the need for increased restrictions on combustible cigarettes to further accelerate declines in cigarette smoking.
* The authors acknowledge that the proposed regulatory framework is not intended to hinder smokers from quitting smoking by completely switching to e-cigarettes, but rather to maximize the potential public health gains and minimize the potential harms of e-cigarette use.

Main Message:
The main message of the text is that e-cigarettes pose potential public health benefits and challenges, and policymakers should act with imperfect information to minimize harms and potential unintended consequences, while trying to maximize the potential to help cigarette smokers quit. The authors propose a regulatory framework that addresses several policy areas, including constituents and health effects, flavors, fire safety, nicotine poisoning/child safety, youth access, marketing, taxation, clean air, and product warnings. The recommendations aim to maximize the potential public health gains and minimize the potential harms of e-cigarette use, while acknowledging that the proposed regulatory framework is not intended to hinder smokers from quitting smoking by completely switching to e-cigarettes.

Ribisl, Kurt M., Andrew B. Seidenberg, and Elizabeth N. Orlan. “RECOMMENDATIONS FOR U.S. PUBLIC POLICIES REGULATING ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 35, no. 2 (April 2016): 479–89. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.21898.