New FDA Regulations on Vaping

FDA bans all Mint and Fruit Flavored Vaping Products

On Jan 2, 2020 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in a press release, that they are now enforcing a ban on fruit and mint-flavored products used in e-cigarettes and vaping products that might appeal to children and teens.

With this ban, it still allows vape shops to sell flavors in tank-based systems. It also does not apply to menthol and tobacco-flavored products. The new restriction will not extend to THC-vape products, which are now mainly regulated by states that practice legalized marijuana. According to USA Today, vape shops have won a concession to temporarily allow them to sell flavors in stores where tank-based systems so customers can mix and match their own nicotine and vaping juices.

How Far the Ban Goes

In the release, the FDA states the ban covers all fruit and mint flavors, allowing manufacturers to only produce tobacco or menthol flavored vaping cartridges. Companies that “do not cease manufacture, distribution and sale or unauthorized flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes […] within 30 days risk FDA enforcement actions,” as that statement reads.

“By prioritizing enforcement against the products that are most widely used by children, our actions […] 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 Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar.

“We will not stand idly by as this crisis among America’s youth grows and evolves, and we will continue monitoring the situation and take further actions as necessary.”

The Reason for the Ban

As reported by the Rolling Stone, the FDA said the cause of the ban comes after the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey concluded that over 5 million of U.S. middle school and high school students vape or have vaped in the last 30 days. These statistics include 1.6 million kids have admitted they use e-cigarettes regularly, and almost 1 million used e-cigarettes daily.

The FDA cited another study conducted suggested that teenagers are primarily drawn to fruit or mint flavors as opposed to tobacco or menthol. Because of this the FDA feels like they need to make a bigger effort to prioritize enforcement of e-cigarette products that seem to target youths with labeling and/or kid-friendly advertising.

According to the New York Times, at a recent congressional hearing, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, said the agency is extremely concerned about e-cigarette flavors from hooking young people to nicotine. She also said the CDC does not believe e-cigarette flavors play a critical role for adults trying to quit smoking and that to be effective, a flavor ban should include menthol and mint.

The Rise in Regulations

With the rise in regulations it’s hard to imagine what will be next. How, these rules will regulate the industry and effect proud vape enthusiasts. Whatever may happen, Got Vape will be here every step of the way, reporting the latest in vape news.

We hope you found this helpful and hope all of our vapers are practicing vaping safely. Happy reading and we’ll be back with more blogs!