Public Health Implications of E-cigarette Regulation for African American Youth in Washington, D.C.

To date, inconclusive research exists on the harm reduction effectiveness and long-term health effects associated with electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use (Goldman, 2014). Without federal e-cigarette regulations, U.S. state governments have implemented state-level regulations. As of August 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering the extension of its regulatory jurisdiction to include, or deem, tobacco products not covered in the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FDA Center for Tobacco Products, 2015). This culminating experience (CE) assesses the public health implications resulting from e-cigarette regulations, including the FDA deeming rule, and lists an optimal set of e-cigarette regulations to maximize health benefits and minimize health risks for African American youth aged 12-17 in Washington, D.C. The health objective is to prevent the onset of illnesses attributed to e-cigarette use and the behavior objective is to decrease the prevalence of e-cigarette use by 20 percent in 5 years. To gather qualitative data, nine key informants completed semi- structured interviews. These data were supplemented with a literature review regarding e- cigarette regulation and a review of public comments submitted to the FDA commissioner on behalf of interviewee stakeholder institutions. Based on the qualitative results, federal and D.C. e-cigarette regulations should focus on the following provisions to minimize health risks and increase health benefits for the priority population, not all of which are included in the deeming rule: youth access; marketing; flavor bans; taxation; and internet sales. With such restrictions, future surveillance and monitoring research would be necessary to validate these regulatory efforts. FDA Center for Tobacco Products (2015). Issue snapshot on deeming: regulating additional tobacco products. http://www.fda.gov/downloads/TobaccoProducts/NewsEvents/UCM397724.pdf. Accessed May 4, 2015. Goldman, T. R. (2014). E-cigarettes and federal regulation. http://healthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/brief_pdfs/healthpolicybrief_120.pdf. Accessed May 6, 2015