FDA suppresses vaping, orders officials to handle sales to minors

Scott Gottlieb, FDA Commissioner, sent letters to companies that control 97% of the e-cigarette market. He said manufacturers have paid their attention to previous requests to stop sales to teens.

"I warn the e-cigarette industry for over a year that they have to do a lot more to stop the youth trends," he said in a statement. "In my opinion, they have treated these issues as a public relations challenge rather than seriously considering their legal obligations, the public health mandate and the existential threat to these products."

Health authorities in Massachusetts, which have been at the forefront of efforts to combat the consumption of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products among adolescents, have welcomed the crackdown.

"We know these products contain nicotine, which is addictive," said Dr. Monica Bharel, public health commissioner for Massachusetts. "The developing adolescent brain is particularly vulnerable to nicotine addiction."

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey expressed similar concerns about e-cigarettes in July when she said her office was investigating one of the largest manufacturers, Juul Labs Inc., based in San Francisco . While teenage cigarette use has reached a record high, she said "juicing" and vaping have become an epidemic in our schools, with products that seem to target young people on nicotine.

Battery-powered electronic cigarettes heat a nicotine-containing liquid into inhaled vapors. Although vaping is safer than a traditional cigarette and can help some adults quit, according to Gottlieb, nicotine is still addictive.

The products, sold in flavors such as cucumber, mango and mint and packaged in devices as small as a USB key, have become ubiquitous, though they are harmful to the developing brain, did he declare. Schools across the country have struggled to cope with the vaping explosion on their campuses.

"It has had nothing less than an epidemic proportion of growth," said Gottlieb. "The FDA will not allow a generation of young people to become addicted to nicotine to allow adults to have unlimited access to these same products."

The FDA sent letters to JUUL, R.J. Vuse of Reynolds Vapor, MarkTen of Altria Group, blu of Imperial Brands and Japan Tobacco's Logic devices.

JUUL Labs said in a statement that it was "committed to preventing the use of our products by minors" and will work with the FDA to keep it out of reach of young people. The other companies were not immediately available for comment.

Nearly half of Massachusetts high school students have tried e-cigarettes at least once, and nearly a quarter said they have used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days – nine times higher than adults.

In addition to confronting manufacturers of electronic cigarettes, the FDA also targets stores that illegally sell them to minors. He sent warning letters to 1,100 retailers, including 7-Eleven stores, Shell gas stations and Walgreens. He imposed 131 fines on stores that allegedly violated the restriction on sales to minors.

Gottlieb has described the effort as the largest coordinated effort of tobacco control in the history of the agency. In the mid-1990s, the Clinton administration approved regulations to control teen smoking and officially classify nicotine as an addictive drug. Much of this effort was subsequently overturned by the courts, which declared that the FDA lacked authority. In 2009, Congress authorized the FDA to regulate tobacco products.

In downtown Boston, the long-time manager of a 7-Eleven franchise store on State Street said he was aware of the FDA's concerns but that his 11 sellers never sold tobacco related products. he said is to ask for the identification of anyone who is 30 years old or younger – even if she only wants to buy a lighter.

"I never sold to a minor," said the director, who asked not to be identified because he did not wish to have any problems with the parent company. His store sells devices marketed by the five electronic cigarette manufacturers that have received letters from the FDA.

In July, Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill to raise the legal age to buy any state tobacco product from 18 to 21 years old, including electronic cigarettes. The law comes into force in January.

The State Department of Public Health has launched a public information campaign
educate parents of middle-aged and school-age children about the dangers of vaping, by advertising public transport, online, on billboards and on social networks.