The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will regulate e-cigarettes and all other tobacco products, the agency announced Thursday.
The move means that the FDA will expand its regulatory power to e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah tobacco, pipe tobacco, and other products, CNN reported. The agency has previously only regulated cigarettes and cigarette-related products in addition to smokeless tobacco.
"This action is a milestone in consumer protection--going forward, the FDA will be able to review new tobacco products not yet on the market, help prevent misleading claims by tobacco product manufacturers, evaluate the ingredients of tobacco products and how they are made, and communicate the potential risks of tobacco product," the FDA said in a statement Thursday morning.
The regulations on e-cigarettes and other tobacco products will affect manufacturing and ingredient labeling, ABC News reported. E-cigarette manufacturers, for example, will be required to put health warnings on packages and advertisements, and will need to present the products to the FDA for review of compliance with public health standards.
The FDA will also ban the sale of the products to individuals under the age of 18, which will begin in 90 days. These represent the first regulations on e-cigarettes issued since the agency first unveiled a plan to regulate the products two years prior.
"We have more to do to help protect Americans from the dangers of tobacco and nicotine, especially our youth. As cigarette smoking among those under 18 has fallen, the use of other nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, has taken a drastic leap," Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement announcing the new regulations.
"All of this is creating a new generation of Americans who are at risk of addiction."