The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an enforcement policy Thursday against some flavored e-cigarette products that appeal to kids, including fruit and mint flavors. Under this policy, companies that don’t stop the manufacture, distribution, and sale of unauthorized e-cigarettes, other than tobacco or menthol, within 30 days risk FDA enforcement actions.
“As we work to combat the troubling epidemic of youth e-cigarette use, the enforcement policy we’re issuing today confirms our commitment to dramatically limit children’s access to certain flavored e-cigarette products we know are so appealing to them – so-called cartridge-based products that are both easy to use and easily concealable,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D.
Hahn said the action along with the recent legislation increasing the minimum age of sale of tobacco to 21 will address the public health threat of youth use of e-cigarettes.
Thirty days after the publication of the guidance in the Federal Register, the FDA will take enforcement against illegally marketed electronic nicotine delivery systems or ENDS products as follows:
- Any flavored, cartridge-based ENDS product, other than a tobacco- or menthol-flavored ENDS product.
- All other ENDS products for which the manufacturer has failed to take, or is failing to take, adequate measures to prevent minors’ access.
- Any ENDS product that’s targeted to minors or likely to promote use of ENDS by minors.
