FDA proposes crackdown on sale of e-ciggs

The Food and Drug Administration is currently seeking a crackdown on sales of e-cigarettes and extending the regulatory authority to prevent minors from buying it.

According to the new proposed rule, e-cigarettes will be prohibited from being sold in vending machines or being passed out as free samples, Politico reported.

The proposed rule has received sharp criticism from public health advocates and many lawmakers because of a "delayed action" from the agency, as many more youth have begun using e-cigarettes and it could take a year for the restrictions and protections to go into effect.

Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that the rule is "a historic moment for the FDA" and that the proposal lays the foundation for further control of e-cigarettes as well as cigars, another currently unregulated tobacco product that also would be covered by the rule.

The proposed rule would give FDA authority over e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, nicotine gels, hookah and dissolvables, but the agency currently can regulate only cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco.