June 12, 2024 – A brand new federal government initiative goals to crack down on illegal e-cigarettes like Elf Bar, with the aim of creating it harder for young people to access these addictive products.
Only 23 e-cigarette products are Legal within the USA, and all have tobacco flavor.
The illegal products include popular items corresponding to flavored disposable vapes. In December 2023, 1.4 million units of unauthorized e-cigarette products were confiscated by the FDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The products were valued at $18 million.
The recent plan combines efforts by the FDA, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and several other other agencies to form a task force. They will deal with enforcing existing laws, seizing products and taking legal motion against those that sell or distribute the products illegally.
About 1,100 manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers are on the duty force's watch list and have received warning letters for distributing or selling illegal tobacco products, the FDA said. announced this week. The agency also said it had fined 55 manufacturers and 140 retailers and successfully sought court orders against six manufacturers to stop manufacturing and selling the illegal products.
Estimated 1 in 10 US high school students used e-cigarettes in 2023, and about one in 4 reported vaping each day. Nearly all teens who vape say they use flavored products, which were banned by the FDA in 2020. Current law allows the sale of e-cigarettes and vaping products to people 21 and older.
Most e-cigarette products contain nicotine or synthetic types of nicotine, that are sometimes marketed as safer than tobacco. The CDC says nicotine is very harmful to young people because their brains are still developing. Nicotine addiction in young people can occur even before regular or each day use.
“Using nicotine during adolescence can damage the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control,” the CDC says. warns.
Vaping during adolescence also increases the danger of addiction to other drugs.
“The American Lung Association welcomes this announcement for much-needed improved coordination between the Department of Justice, the Food and Drug Administration, and law enforcement to enforce the law against companies that continue to sell, distribute, and import illegal tobacco products whose goal is to get our nation’s youth addicted to tobacco products,” said Harold Wimmer, President and CEO of the American Lung Association, in a opinion“For too long, manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers have acted without regard for the law or public health.”