FDA Plans to Significantly Limit Sales of Flavored Electronic Cigarettes



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The Food and Drug Administration plans to severely limit the sale of most fashionable flavored electronic cigarettes, removing them from most convenience stores and service stations and demanding strict verification of age verification. for online sales, according to FDA officials.

The actions, which should be announced as early as next week, aim to limit access to the most popular electronic cigarettes among children, whose use is growing. Many electronic cigarette companies, including the market leader, Juul Labs Inc., sell nicotine liquids with flavors of mango and cucumber.

At the same time, New York plans to ban the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes as early as next year.

The new FDA policy will come into effect immediately. This will apply to cartridge-type products like Juul that are popular among young people, not open-tank systems used primarily by adults and sold in vape stores, say FDA officials.

No retail outlet will be permitted to sell flavored electronic cigarettes in pod form, unless this prevents minors from entering the store or creating an area at the store. Inside the store where minors can not enter, said one of the top officials.

Electronic cigarette products with flavors of mint, menthol and tobacco will be allowed to remain in all retail outlets at the moment, but could be limited later if use by young people continues to increase, said the officials.

The new restrictions had previously been reported by the Washington Post.

According to preliminary federal data, the number of high school students who use electronic cigarettes has increased by about 75% since last year to reach about three million, or 20% of high school students. Meanwhile, use among college students has increased by almost 50%.

In an interview Wednesday, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that reversing an upward trend in children was a much harder task for a regulator than a drug. prevent it from happening in the beginning.

"What I can not tolerate is another year of this level of growth," he said.

Dr. Gottlieb had warned in September that he was in danger of completely removing e-cigarettes from the market. He asked Juul:

Altria Group
Inc.

British American Tobacco

PLC and other major electronic cigarette manufacturers must present convincing plans to reduce teenage use or risk banning their products. All have since met the Commissioner.

Juul, whose products are sold online and at convenience stores, gas stations and vaporizer stores, accounted for 75% of the US e-cigarette market for the four weeks ended Oct. 6, according to an analysis of Nielsen's data. conducted by Wells Fargo. This does not include online sales.

According to analysts, aromas other than tobacco, mint and menthol account for around 55% of Juul's sales. A spokesman for Juul declined to comment.

Write to Jennifer Maloney at [email protected]

Published in the print edition of November 9, 2018 under the name "FDA Set To Curb Flavored E-Cigs".

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