e-cigarettes - Company sues FDA for blocking imports of product..

May 1, 2009 - A Florida company that imports and distributes so-called electronic cigarettes has filed suit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), claiming the agency is illegally blocking imports of its product into the United States.

The suit, filed by Smoking Everywhere in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the FDA has overstepped its regulatory authority by banning shipments of the devices and insisting they need to go through the drug approval process.

Smoking Everywhere’s lawyers from Thompson Hine point out that in 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the FDA did not have the power to regulate ordinary cigarettes. Therefore, it shouldn’t be allowed to clamp down on their high tech counterparts, the lawyers argue. Makers market e-cigarettes as a risk-free way to get a nicotine buzz.

Using e-cigarettes is not tobacco smoking - it delivers inhaled vaporized nicotine from a small, plastic tube that heats up with the help of a tiny battery. Just like nicotine water, nicotine-laced lollipops and lip balm the FDA considers e-cigarettes illegal and to contain an unapproved drug. - tobaccowatch.org

Reference: FDA Sued Over Electronic Cigarette Embargo, Posted by Jordan Weissmann, BLT - Blog of Legal Times, 4/29/2009.

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