Teen e-cig vape out!
FDA targets retailers as use by minors becomes ‘epidemic’
The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on an “epidemic” of e-cigarette use among young people.
More than 1,300 warning letters and fines were dished out to shops, gas stations and online stores across the country that illegally sold vaping products to minors during an undercover blitz this summer. In addition, the FDA fired off letters to manufacturers of the five best-selling vaping brands — JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen XL, blu e-cigs, and Logic — giving them 60 days to submit plans on how they’ll address the issue of teens using their products.
The FDA Wednesday called these “historic enforcement actions” the largest coordinated enforcement effort in the federal agency’s history.
“I use the word epidemic with great care,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. “E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous — and dangerous — trend among teens. The disturbing and accelerating trajectory of use we’re seeing in youth, and the resulting path to addiction, must end. It’s simply not tolerable. I’ll be clear. The FDA won’t tolerate a whole generation of young people becoming addicted to nicotine as a tradeoff for enabling adults to have unfettered access to these same products.”
E-cigs have been the most commonly used tobacco product by youth in recent years, with more than 2 million middle and high school kids using them last year. The FDA requires e-cigs and similar products be sold only to those 18 and up, while New York City’s Smoke-Free Air Act prohibits retailers from selling tobacco and electronic cigarettes to anyone under 21.
The undercover inspections were carried out by trained minors who attempted to purchase the products while working alongside FDA inspectors. Stores with first-time violations for selling e-cigarette products to minors were given warning letters, while those with multiple violations were hit with fines.
Among the New York-area stores issued a warning was US Petroleum/US Mart in East Northport on Long Island. A phone number listed for the spot was not in service Wednesday.
Another Long Island store given a warning — Village Chemists of Setauket — viewed the caution as a reminder to check everyone’s identification for proof of age.
“It was a good letter to get and the person who did (sell a vaping product to an underage buyer) was talked to and told to proof every single person for cigarettes and tobacco products so we can avoid this is in the future,” Justine Justiniano, manager of Village Chemists of Setauket, told the Daily News. “Because I do think it’s important not to sell these products to minors.”
Justiniano said the warning letter informed her that the violation occurred a couple of months ago.
“I’m very upset that it happened, but people are human,” she added. “I’m making sure everyone is proofed for every single tobacco product whether they’re 90 or you think they’re 21.”
Meanwhile, the five e-cigarette manufacturers that were given notice to submit plans make up more than 97 percent of the market for the product.
“Given the magnitude of the problem, we’re requesting that the manufacturers of these brands and products come back to the FDA in 60 days with robust plans on how they’ll convincingly address the widespread use of their products by minors, or we’ll revisit the FDA’s exercise of enforcement discretion for products currently on the market,” Gottlieb said.
“This may require these brands to revise their sales and marketing practices, including online sales; to stop distributing their products to retailers who sell to kids; and to remove some or all of their flavored e-cig products from the market until they receive premarket authorization and otherwise meet applicable requirements,” the FDA Commissioner added.