Top senators are urging stores to stop selling illegal vapes
The chairmen of five key Senate committees on Thursday warned the directors of major convenience stores and wholesalers to stop the sale of illegal flavored vaping products, which they called “widespread violations of federal law.”
The senators expressed their concerns in letters to the companies, adding to frustration among some lawmakers in Congress over the continued availability of e-cigarettes in vibrant colors and candy flavors that attract young people who could become addicted to nicotine. The uncontrolled sales, they wrote, “pose an enormous threat to public health.”
“The FDA and industry must do more to address the youth vaping epidemic and immediately remove unauthorized vaping products from their shelves,” said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip.
The letters were addressed to retailers including 7-Eleven, Circle K, bp America, Pilot, Kwik Trip and others. The Food and Drug Administration had previously warned against the sale of unauthorized brands such as Elf Bar, EB Design and Funky Republic.
The senators’ letters reminded the companies that Congress gave the FDA authority over tobacco products in a landmark 2009 law. Selling unapproved items could result in fines or an order to stop selling tobacco products, the letter said.
“Today, millions of children use unauthorized e-cigarettes, putting them at risk of nicotine addiction, respiratory disease, worsening depression and anxiety, and many other harmful consequences,” read the letter to 7-Eleven CEO Joseph DePinto. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
To date, the FDA has approved 23 vaping products and millions of applications rejected. It has enabled the sale of a number of vapes that are still under review, including some from Juul and Vuse.
Some gas station retailers, represented by the Energy Marketers of America, have found the situation so murky that they formally requested the FDA to clarify which e-cigarettes they can sell.
“We have asked the FDA numerous times for complete information about what can and cannot be sold in stores, but they have refused to provide it,” Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said in an email . “It is long past time for the FDA to provide that clarity and aggressively enforce the law.”
Public health experts have repeatedly called for the FDA to complete its review of e-cigarette sales applications and clear the market of illegal vapes. The agency has said it will complete the review by June 30. So far it has only allowed tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes and recently rejected several menthol varieties.
A study released last summer suggested that limiting the use of flavored vapes could have an effect: About 40 percent of adolescents said they would quit e-cigarettes if only tobacco and menthol were available, and 70 percent would quit if only vapes were available would be marketed with tobacco flavour.
“What that says is that young people in this context are saying, ‘If tobacco was the only flavor, I don’t know if I would continue using this product,’” says Alayna Tackett, an assistant professor at the Center for Tobacco. Research at Ohio State University. She noted that the predicted behavior may not reflect what young people actually do.
Vaping levels among teens have dropped dramatically since popularity surged in 2019, when about 28 percent of high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the past month. That level dropped to about 10 percent in a similar study last year.
Advocates of e-cigarettes for adult use cite these statistics as evidence that the teen crisis has subsided, and they say the FDA should keep flavors available for those trying to quit traditional cigarettes.
Concerns about the use of e-cigarettes are increasing worldwide. In January, Britain announced it would ban disposable, flavored e-cigarettes after a survey found that one in five young people aged 11 to 17 reported vaping in the past year.
In December, the World Health Organization called for “urgent action” to protect children of e-cigarettes and said many countries had no age limit on the products. E-cigarettes are highly addictive, the report said, and “generate toxins, some known to cause cancer and others to increase the risk of heart and lung disease.”
Recent studies show the value of e-cigarettes for smokers looking to quit – in addition to the risks for those who continue to smoke and vape. One study released January showed that almost 16 percent of smokers who switched to e-cigarettes were still smoke-free six months later. That rate was comparable to those who took the smoking cessation drug Chantix, and better than those who used nicotine gum.
Another study published last month found that so-called dual users of cigarettes and vaping were at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and asthma.
“E-cigarettes are as bad as a cigarette for some diseases,” said Stanton Glantz, lead author of the study. “For others, they’re a little better. But they are not much better and double use is always worse.”
In addition to Mr. Durbin, the other senators who signed the letter were Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon; Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont; Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio; and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut.