(Updated: 3:13 p.m. EST, Jan. 2 2020)
Topline: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a ban Thursday stopping the distribution of fruit and mint flavors in cartridge-based e-cigarettes (while allowing tobacco and menthol) after the Trump administration had previously considered a stricter ban due to an upswing in youth usage.
- The ban will go into effect 30 days from now, and companies disobeying the new policy would face regulatory action by the FDA.
- Tobacco- and menthol-flavored cartridges are still allowed, said the FDA.
- “Our action today seeks to strike the right public health balance by maintaining e-cigarettes as a potential off-ramp for adults using combustible tobacco while ensuring these products don’t provide an on-ramp to nicotine addiction for our youth, said Alex Azar, head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
- The FDA cited a 2019 survey of the nation’s youth as playing a role in its decision: the report found that over 5 million middle and high schoolers were e-cigarette users, and that cartridge-based devices were favored by them.
- American Lung Association president and chief executive Harold Wimmer said in an emailed statement that the new FDA policy falls short of protecting the health of young people in the U.S., calling it “riddled with loopholes,” and that it “also fails to support parents, teachers, coaches and other adults striving to protect children from falling prey to addiction, disease and death caused by tobacco products.”
