Judge OKs imports of e-cigarettes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction barring the Obama administration from trying to regulate electronic cigarettes and prevent them from being imported into the United States.

In a sharply worded decision, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon scolded the Food and Drug Administration for trying to assert jurisdiction over the cigarettes, which are battery-powered or rechargeable devices that vaporize a liquid nicotine solution.

“This case appears to be yet another example of FDA’s aggressive efforts to regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs or devices,” he said in granting an injunction barring the FDA from regulating the cigarettes as a drug-device combination.

E-cigarettes were first made in China and are sold mostly on the Internet. The battery-powered devices work by a emitting a “puff” or fine mist of nicotine in the lungs.