Trump cracks down on flavored e-cigarettes — so how are Juul products still for sale?
The Trump administration has announced new restrictions on fruit and mint-flavored vape cartridges, but that won’t keep brands like Juul from store shelves.
That’s because the Food and Drug Administration’s new rules issued Thursday will not apply to tobacco or menthol products, a back-down from stricter rules officials had announced in September.
According to the new rules, companies that don’t stop selling fruit and mint flavors in 30 days will face unspecified action from the FDA. The flavor restrictions will not apply to large cartridges used in tank vaping devices, which are more popular among adults, the FDA announced.
The Associated Press reported Trump said Tuesday that “we have to protect our families,” but at the same time, “we want to protect the industry.”
The new restrictions are part of a larger effort to curb vaping use among teens. A recent study by researchers at the FDA and CDC found that 27% of high school students and 10% of middle school students used e-cigarettes. Of those that exclusively used e-cigarettes, 75% of high school students and 59% of middle school students had used fruit, dessert and candy flavors.
The FDA decided to crack down on flavored e-cigarettes because they were so popular among youth, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday in the FDA press release.
“By prioritizing enforcement against the products that are most widely used by children, our action today 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,” Azar said. “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.”
Under the Tobacco Control Act, manufacturers can apply to get approval for vaping products — including flavored vapes — so long as they “demonstrate that the product meets the applicable standard in the law, such as whether the product is appropriate for the protection of the public health,” the release said.
That’s why the FDA argued the new rules “are not a ‘ban.’”
“If a company can demonstrate to the FDA that a specific product meets the applicable standard set forth by Congress, including considering how the marketing of the product may affect youth initiation and use, then the FDA could authorize that product for sale,” the release says.
Juul had already stopped the sale of those flavored cartridges online and in-store months ago in anticipation of the ban.
Officials say the new restriction is not related to the recent deaths and illnesses linked with vaping. CNBC reported Azar said Thursday that officials see that as a “separate issue” because those illnesses are believed to be caused by THC-based vaping products. The CDC had reported more than 2,500 people hospitalized and 55 deaths as of Dec. 27.
Trump recently signed a new law banning the sale of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to people under the age of 21. Several states had already raised the minimum age to buy tobacco products, including California, Virginia, New Jersey and New York.