FDA sued for delaying regulations

WASHINGTON — Several major public health groups sued the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday for delaying certain rules for electronic cigarettes and cigars, saying that consumers as a result will be exposed for years to “lethal and addictive components” in tobacco products.

The lawsuit is challenging an agency decision last summer to grant lengthy deadline extensions to manufacturers seeking FDA approval for their products. Originally, the companies were required to submit such product-review applications by this August for any item that went on the market after February 2007. The revised timeline changed that to August 2021 for cigars and August 2022 for e-cigarettes.

The extensions have been embraced by the e-cigarette industry, which feared that many of its products would be banned under the original schedule. In the suit filed Tuesday, health groups argue that the delay allows flavored tobacco products that target children and teenagers to remain on the market.

The organizations suing include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Truth Initiative. Several individual pediatricians also joined the case, which was filed in federal court in Maryland.