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Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) today thanked negotiators for preventing a poison-pill policy rider from being included in the fiscal year 2016 government funding bill that would have exempted electronic cigarettes from regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In August, following numerous reports of injuries caused by defective electronic cigarettes, Dingell wrote a letter to FDA Acting Commissioner Dr. Stephen Ostroff urging him to finalize a proposed rule to regulate the products as soon as possible. Dingell’s constituent, Sgt. Jason Diekman of Wyandotte, was among those injured this summer when an exploding electronic cigarette badly burned his arms and abdomen. 

“Consumers deserve to know that the products they buy are safe for use,” said Dingell. “Such assurances currently do not exist for electronic cigarettes, and I am pleased that by stopping this damaging proposal, negotiators have helped pave the way for improvements in consumer safety. Now that this roadblock has been averted, the FDA must move as quickly as possible to finalize the proposed rule and protect public health.”

The proposed rule issued by the FDA would deem electronic cigarettes to be subject to FDA authority, meaning they would be regulated in the same manner as which the agency currently regulates cigarettes. Manufacturers of electronic cigarettes would be required to register with the agency, report product and ingredient listings, and include health warnings and minimum age restrictions.

The policy rider being pushed in the House of Representatives would have exempted electronic cigarettes that are already on the market from being retroactively reviewed for safety once the rule is approved. In her August letter, Dingell urged the FDA to maintain a provision in the final rule that would require pre-market approval of any electronic cigarette that was on the market after February 15, 2007.