US
A federal judge ruled on May 15 in favor of six American medical societies and five individual pediatricians against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In a lawsuit the American Academy of Pediatrics and other health groups filed against FDA last year, alleging the agency of initially delaying a review of the safety and health impact of e-cigarettes and cigars, District Judge Paul W. Grimm of US District Court for the District of Maryland ruled that, in 2017, the agency acted illegally by allowing e-cigarettes to remain on the market until 2022 before companies applied for FDA authorization and by permitting products to remain on the market indefinitely during review.
In his ruling Grimm said FDA’s five-year “compliance safe-harbor” likely allowed companies enough time to attract young users and “get them addicted to nicotine before any of their products or flavors were pulled from the market, noting the delay gave manufacturers responsible for public harm “a holiday from meeting the obligations of the law.”