Fifty Substantial Equivalence (SE) Orders permitting marketing of new tobacco products were issued in June, more than double the number of approvals since reviews began in 2011, the government said.

A weekly summary of activities at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products tallies the 50 approvals , which represent three times the number of orders issued (17) in 2013. Prior to June, four approvals had been issued this year.
The SE approval process has been controversial because it took FDA more than two years to issue the first rulings, which were made one year ago in June.