The chairmen of five key Senate committees on Thursday warned CEOs of major convenience stores and wholesalers to stop selling illegal flavored e-cigarette products, which they called “widespread violations of federal law.”
The senators expressed their concerns in letters to the companies, adding to frustration among some members of Congress over the continued availability of e-cigarettes in bright colors and candy flavors that attract young people who could become addicted to nicotine. They wrote that the unchecked sales “pose an enormous threat to public health.”
“The FDA and the industry must do more to combat the youth vaping epidemic and immediately remove unauthorized vaping products from their shelves,” said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic leader.
The letters were addressed to retailers such as 7-Eleven, Circle K, bp America, Pilot, Kwik Trip and others. The Food and Drug Administration previously issued warnings about the sale of unauthorized brands such as Elf Bar, EB Design and Funky Republic.
The senators’ letters reminded companies that Congress had given 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 illicit e-cigarettes, risking nicotine addiction, respiratory illnesses, worsening depression and anxiety, and many other harms,” said the letter to Joseph DePinto, CEO of 7-Eleven. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
To date, the FDA has approved 23 e-cigarette products and rejected millions of applications. It has enabled sales of some vapes that are still under review, including some from Juul and Vuse.
Some gas station retailers, represented by the Energy Marketers of America, found the situation so unclear that they formally petitioned the FDA to clarify which e-cigarettes they could sell.
“We have asked the FDA multiple times for complete information about what can and cannot be sold in stores and 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 this clarity and vigorously enforce the law.”
Public health experts have repeatedly called on the FDA to complete its review of applications for e-cigarette sales and to rid the market of illicit e-cigarettes. The authority has announced that it will complete the review by June 30. So far it has only approved tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes and recently rejected several types of menthol.
A study published last summer suggested that restricting flavored e-cigarettes could have an impact: About 40 percent of teens said they would stop using e-cigarettes if only tobacco and menthol were available, and 70 percent would stop this if only tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes came onto the market.
“That is, in this context, young people are saying, ‘If tobacco was the only flavor, I don’t know if I would continue to use this product,'” said Alayna Tackett, an assistant professor at the Center for Tobacco Research at Ohio State University. She noted that predicted behavior may not reflect what young people actually do.
Vaping rates among teens have fallen dramatically since a surge in popularity in 2019, when about 28 percent of high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the past month. In a similar survey last year, this figure fell to around 10 percent.
Proponents of adult e-cigarettes cite these statistics as evidence that the teen crisis has abated, and they say the FDA should keep flavors available to those trying to quit traditional cigarettes.
Concerns about the use of e-cigarettes are increasing worldwide. In January, Britain announced it would ban single-use flavored e-cigarettes after a survey found one in five young people aged 11 to 17 said they had smoked vape in the previous year.
In December, the World Health Organization called for “urgent action” to protect children from e-cigarettes, saying there were no age restrictions on the products in many countries. E-cigarettes are highly addictive, it said, and “produce toxic substances, some of which are known to cause cancer and others that increase the risk of heart and lung disease.”
Recent studies show the value of e-cigarettes for smokers who want to quit smoking – but also risks for those who continue to smoke and vape. A study published in January found that nearly 16 percent of smokers who switched to e-cigarettes remained smoke-free six months later. This rate was similar 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 e-cigarettes are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and asthma.
“E-cigarettes are just as harmful as a cigarette for some diseases,” said Stanton Glantz, the study’s lead author. “For others they are a little better. But they’re not much better and dual 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.
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2024-03-07 15:00:07
www.nytimes.com
