On May 22, 2024, a coalition of 78 leading public health, medical, education, community, and other organizations called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to employ all available enforcement tools to eliminate unauthorized e-cigarette products from the market. This includes flavored products that appeal to minors and pose risks for nicotine addiction and other significant health issues.
The FDA has authorized only 23 tobacco-flavored e-cigarette products for sale in the United States. "These are the only e-cigarette products that currently may be lawfully sold in the U.S.," stated the FDA.
"This means that virtually the entire e-cigarette market consists of unauthorized, illegal products, including a wide variety of flavored products (largely disposables) that FDA has found to be highly appealing to youth," noted the groups in their letter to the three agencies. "This is a wholesale failure to enforce the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act by FDA and other government enforcement agencies. There must be an intensified and coordinated, multi-agency federal effort to enforce the law against these illegal products in an effective and equitable manner."
The organizations proposed several specific changes in tobacco enforcement policies to address this issue effectively.
"The failure to adequately enforce the law against unauthorized products has real, significant public health consequences," concluded their letter. "We urge FDA, DOJ, and CBP to respond with an 'all hands on deck' strategy that will use all enforcement tools at their disposal to protect public health, particularly that of our young people from the flood of illegal, unauthorized e-cigarettes."
According to data from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey, youth e-cigarette use remains a critical public health concern in the United States with 2.1 million middle and high school students currently using e-cigarettes; nearly 90% report using flavored products.
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