The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today will publish its long awaited proposal to expand tobacco regulatory powers to include e-cigarettes, a set of rules that allow flavours and mandate product registration, various media report.

Cigars, pipe tobacco, nicotine gels, water pipe tobacco and hookahs also will be regulated by FDA under the Tobacco Control Act of 2009, according to news reports. Currently only cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco are regulated by FDA. An attempt by the regulatory agency to impose medical regulation on e-cigarettes was blocked by the courts.
Health warnings will be required but advertising will not be curbed unless health claims are made, USA Today reports. Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, said the government does not have enough scientific evidence for a ruling on flavors, but research will continue, says the Los Angeles Times. The rules will be subject to a 75-day public comment period, the newspapers report.
Zeller said the proposal will serve as a framework for additional rules, the LA Times says. FDA initially promised the new e-cigarette rules three years ago.
Products on the market after 25 Feb, 2007, must be registered with FDA, however companies will have two years after implementation to submit an application either for new product approval or as existing products, according to USA Today. The products may stay on the market until the approval process is concluded.
Sales of all the products included in the proposed regulation will be banned to persons below the age of 18. States will be granted authority to raise the age limit, says CNN.