WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration issued a sweeping set of tobacco rules Thursday that would regulate electronic cigarettes, cigars, and other products for the first time, despite furious resistance from industry groups that say the new rules would be costly and unnecessary.
The 499-page final rule would require regulatory reviews for electronic cigarettes, cigars, and other products that went on sale after Feb. 15, 2007, unless the manufacturers can prove to the FDA that they’re “substantially equivalent” to products that were already being sold or that there is some other reason they should be exempt.
