The Food and Drug Administration is banning most fruit- and mint-flavored nicotine vaping products in an effort to curb a surge in teen use, the agency said Thursday.
Under the new rule, which takes effect in 30 days, companies that do not stop the distribution the sweeter flavors that appeal to kids risk enforcement action, the
FDA said. Companies are also at risk of regulatory action if their products target kids or if they fail to take “adequate measures” to prevent access to children. They’ll still be able to sell tobacco and menthol-flavored pods for the adults who use the products to quit smoking.
“The United States has never seen an epidemic of substance use arise as quickly as our current epidemic of youth use of e-cigarettes,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement Thursday.
“HHS is taking a comprehensive, aggressive approach to enforcing the law passed by Congress, under which no e-cigarettes are currently on the market legally,” he said.
The FDA is specifically banning cartridge-based nicotine pods like Juul, allowing vape shops to continue selling tank-based flavored nicotine liquids, which require users to manually fill their pods.
