The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a marketing denial order for 55,000 electronic cigarette products produced by three companies on Thursday. The order is the first ban on e-cigarette products made by the regulator since it imposed a mandatory review for all manufacturers in September last year.
The FDA said it had enough reason to believe that the products it has banned posed a public threat to the youth. The 55,000 products are produced by U.S. e-cigarette companies JD Nova Group LLC, Great American Vapes, and Vapor Salon.
Under its order, the three companies will not be allowed to sell the affected products and those that are already in the market must be removed. Failure to comply with the order may result in immediate enforcement actions.
Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said the products on its ban list have been found to be marketed directly to young people. He said the decision was made to ban them after an assessment of their impact on the youth.
E-cigarettes and vaping products have mostly been marketed as a tool to help people quit smoking. However, some companies have been heavily marketing them to younger users, which has resulted in an uptick in use among teens and even young children.
Experts have pointed to sweet flavors, names, and flashy packaging as proof that companies are intentionally marketing vape products to children. Some products that are on the list of banned items include vape juices with names such as Apple Crumble, Dr. Cola, and Cinnamon Toast Cereal.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 20% of high school students have tried or are vaping, while 5% of middle school children have also tried or are actively vaping.
E-cigarette advocates have complained that the FDA's actions only covered small companies and not major players such as Juul. The FDA said more bans are likely to come as it continues its review of products.
The FDA said the ban only covers a small fraction of the more than 6.5 million electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products it has yet to review. Since it made reviews mandatory, the regulator has received marketing applications from more than 500 companies.
