The United States will restrict the tastes of their electronic cigarette to combat the teenage vaping epidemic

(Reuters) – The US Food and Drug Administration will ban the sale of fruit and candy-flavored electronic cigarettes in convenience stores and gas stations, an agency official said in an attempt to crack down on food products. increase in the use of -cigarettes.

This ban means that only tobacco, mint and menthol fragrances can be sold in these outlets, said the agency official, potentially bearing a heavy blow to Juul Labs Inc., the market leader in vapor devices based in San Francisco.

The FDA will also introduce more stringent age verification requirements for online sales of electronic cigarettes. The FDA's restrictions, originally reported by the Washington Post and confirmed by the Reuters head, do not apply to the vaping shops or other specialty retail stores.

There has been increasing pressure for action to be taken after preliminary federal data showed that teenage use had increased by more than 75% since last year, and the FDA has qualified the phenomenon of epidemic.

"E-cigarettes have become an almost ubiquitous – and dangerous – trend among teens," said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in September. "The worrying and accelerated use trajectory that we see in young people and the resulting path to addiction must come to an end. This is simply not tolerable. "

This growth coincided with the ramp-up of Juul, whose vaping appliance sales rose from 2.2 million in 2016 to 16.2 million last year, according to US monitoring and control centers. prevention of diseases.

The agency threatened in September to ban Juul and four other major electronic cigarette products unless their manufacturers take action to prevent their use by minors. The FDA gave Juul and four major tobacco companies 60 days to present their plans to reduce the use of minors, a compliance period that is now over.

The anticipated flavor restrictions in convenience stores will likely have the biggest impact on Juul, which sells nicotine liquid pods in flavors such as mango, mint, fruit and cream, formerly known as crème brûlée.

The only other competitors for e-cigarettes sold in convenience stores are those marketed primarily by tobacco companies such as Altria Group Inc., British American Tobacco Plc, Imperial Brands Plc and Japan Tobacco Inc.

These products, sold under the brands MarkTen, blu, Vuse and Logic, lost market share, with Juul having gained a prominent place over the past year, from 13.6% of the US electronic cigarette market to beginning of 2017 to nearly 75% now. according to a Wells Fargo analysis of Nielsen's retail data.

The products of the electronic cigarette represent a small part of the income of the big tobacco companies, whereas the activity of Juul rests entirely on the vaping devices. Revenue generated by electronic cigarette devices accounted for less than 1% of British American Tobacco's overall sales for the first six months of 2018, according to a July report by the company.

Altria announced last month its intention to stop selling its pod-based electronic cigarettes, usually smaller devices that use pre-filled liquid nicotine cartridges, in response to FDA concerns about use by teenagers. The company also announced that it would limit the aromas of tobacco, menthol and mint to its other electronic cigarette products.

Representatives from Altria, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands and Japan Tobacco did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday night. A spokeswoman for Juul declined to comment.

The companies have previously indicated that their products are intended for adult use and that retailers respect the law.

Juul previously stated that the company wanted "to be part of the solution to keep electronic cigarettes out of the reach of young people," but that "appropriate flavors play an important role in helping adult smokers to change."

Meredith Berkman, one of the founders of the e-cigarette Parents Against Vaping, which aims to reduce the use of minors, said the agency's decision was a "good first" step ", adding that" the last step should have been taken yesterday ".

"Why not completely remove the flavors, why not delete online sales?", She said.

Electronic cigarettes have been a topic of division in the public health community. Some focus on the potential of products to turn lifetime smokers into less harmful nicotine-based products, while others fear the risk of attracting a new generation to nicotine addiction.

Last year, the FDA, under Gottlieb, extended until 2022 the time limit for electronic cigarette manufacturing companies to comply with the new federal rules on marketing and public health.