FDA and DOJ pledge more cooperation on illegal e-cigarettes ahead of congressional hearing
WASHINGTON — Federal health regulators and law enforcement officials pledged Monday to work more closely to curb the sale of illegal electronic cigaretteswhich have now grown into a billion-dollar company in the US circumvent government supervision.
The Food and Drug Administration said it would launch a new task force on the issue, along with the Justice Department and several other agencies, including the US Postal Service.
The FDA has approved a handful of e-cigarettes for adult smokers looking for alternatives to traditional cigarettes. The agency has rejected applications for millions of other proposed products.
But thousands of unauthorized vaping products continue to flow into the US, largely from China. This includes major disposable vape brands like Elf Bar, which was the most popular e-cigarette among underage teens last year, according to federal data.
The announcement from the FDA and the Department of Justice comes two days earlier a hearing in the Senate investigating the lack of government enforcement action against makers and sellers of unauthorized e-cigarettes.
The multi-agency task force was proposed by outside experts in 2022 as part of a scorching criticism of the FDA’s tobacco program.
The experts channeled long-standing grievances from groups on either side of the vaping problem. Public health groups want the FDA to more aggressively police illegal flavored e-cigarettes that appeal to teens. Tobacco companies complain that the FDA is unwilling to approve newer e-cigarettes that can help adults quit smoking.
The FDA has sent hundreds of warning letters to vape shops and e-cigarette manufacturers in recent years, urging them to remove or discontinue their products. But the letters are sometimes ignored. And FDA officials have increasingly noticed that they rely on the Ministry of Justice to file lawsuits against bad actors.
Only last year did the FDA announce its first fines against vaping companies for selling unauthorized e-cigarettes.
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