United States: new circumvention of the ban on the sale of flavored vaping products

March 5, 2021

Par: National Committee Against Smoking

Dernière mise à jour: March 5, 2021

Temps de lecture: 5 minutes

To circumvent the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) bans on vaping products, a brand of disposable e-cigarettes, Puff Bar, has just announced to its customers that it will use synthetic nicotine, not derived from tobacco.[1].

There Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act), signed into law on June 22, 2009, gives the FDA the authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of all tobacco and nicotine products.

On January 2, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a ban on fruity and sweet flavored refills for certain vaping brands.[2], such as those used with Juul devices. However, this ban only applies to closed-system, pre-filled e-cigarettes. This means that disposable and open-system rechargeable devices still offer a variety of flavors targeted at younger audiences.[3]. Some brands, such as Puff Bar, have been the main beneficiaries of this loophole by offering a range of flavored refills compatible with the Juul device.

In July 2020, the FDA sent warning letters to several vaping companies, including the maker of the Puff Bar brand. In the letter, the FDA ordered them to remove their flavored disposable e-cigarettes and youth-appealing e-liquids from the market, as the latter did not have prior marketing authorization. The maker of the Puff Bar brand announced at the time that it was halting online sales until further notice.

An attempt to circumvent the law to continue selling flavored products

In an email to customers in February 2021, the same manufacturer stated that it had adapted its e-cigarettes of this brand and that they now contain “tobacco-free nicotine”. This means that their products now contain synthetic nicotine. The FDA’s July 2020 sales ban has been removed from the brand’s website, where online sales have resumed. About fifteen flavors are offered on the site, including sweet and fruity flavors. However, according to the FDA, an e-cigarette containing synthetic nicotine is likely to contain components or parts of a tobacco product and must therefore be subject to the regulations that apply to these products in the United States.

Brand accused of deliberately targeting young people

For Matthew Myers, president of the NGO Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the FDA must assert its authority because this is a " deliberate circumvention attempt to continue selling flavored products that fuel the youth vaping epidemic "According to a federal survey conducted from January to March 2020, 26.5% of high school e-cigarette users reported using disposable e-cigarettes, compared to 2.4% in 2019, such as those of the incriminated brand. [4].

Several health organizations and American parliamentarians had already called on the FDA to ban disposable e-cigarettes because they specifically target young people. A representative from Illinois had also pointed out the exploitation of the COVID-19 pandemic by the manufacturer of this brand to increase the sale of its products to adolescents through targeted advertising.

(We know it's been... challenging being stuck indoors. Keep your spirits up with a solitary break at the Puff Bar. We know you'll love it. There's no better way to escape from endless Zoom calls, text messages from your parents, or the stress of working from home.)

According to the MP, the ad was designed to encourage students, who were forced to study from home due to the pandemic, to vape in their bedrooms without their parents noticing. Other ads suggested that vaping the brand's products was a good way to relax during the holidays.

Keywords: FDA, United States, Youth, Vaping, Flavors