The FDA has awarded $3.9 million to researchers at the Center for Tobacco Research at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center to assess the impact of e-cigarette flavors on the smoking behavior of current adult smokers.
The study was led by Dr. Theodore Wagener, director of the Center for Tobacco Research at Ohio State University, and Dr. Tracy Smith of the Hollins Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina, For the first time, precise information will be provided on the impact of non-tobacco e-cigarette flavors on helping adult smokers quit.
Wagener made it clear that the study will provide urgently needed scientific data to inform the FDA’s regulation of flavor use in e-cigarettes. He noted that the FDA must decide how to balance the two goals of protecting minors and providing harm reduction products for adults. This study will generate critical data to help the FDA do just that.