The FDA and FTC crack down on vaping products resembling juice boxes and candy

Federal authorities said Tuesday they were issuing 13 warning letters to companies that sell vaping products like liquid nicotine in packaging that may appeal to children, including products that resemble juice boxes and candy.

The joint action by the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission is the latest step by the federal government to crack down on the vaping industry.

Last week, FDA officials said they had started an undercover sting operation targeting retailers that sell the popular Juul products to minors and had asked the maker, Juul Labs, to turn over documents related to marketing practices.

The action Tuesday, against a group of manufacturers, distributors and retailers, focused on products that the agencies said were aimed at underage users or could be accidentally ingested by children. The products have names like One Mad Hit Juice Box, sold by NEwhere Inc., and Vape Heads Sour Smurf Sauce, sold by Lifted Liquids, which look like Warheads candy.

One product, the Twirly Pop, sold by Omnia E-Liquid, also came with a real lollipop, federal officials said.

Some of the companies also sold products to minors. Federal officials said even if the products were not sold to minors, a child could be mistakenly poisoned because the packaging so closely resembled food and candy.

“The images are alarming and it’s easy to see how a child could confuse these eliquid products for something they believe they’ve consumed before,” Scott Gottlieb, the FDA commissioner, said in a telephone call with reporters Tuesday.

Child poisonings from ingesting liquid nicotine have recently increased. Such poisonings can be deadly and can cause seizures, comas and respiratory arrest. There is no evidence the products under scrutiny caused any child deaths, officials said.

Nevertheless, “it takes a very small amount of these e-liquids, in some cases less than half a teaspoon, to be at the low end of what could be a fatal effect for a kid, and even less than that to make them very, very sick,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.