President Trump said Wednesday that his administration will ban e-cigarette flavors, taking a step to address widespread concern as a mysterious lung illness spreads that appears linked to vaping devices.
“It’s not a wonderful thing,” Trump said of vaping. “It’s got big problems. We have to find out the extent of the problem.”
Trump announced his intention at an Oval Office meeting alongside first lady Melania Trump, Ned Sharpless, the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services Secretary.
The lung illness, which appears linked to vaping, has killed six people and infected as many as 450 more with symptoms that include vomiting, shortness of breath, and chest pain.
Azar told reporters that it would be several weeks before the government guidance about e-cigarette flavors would go out, including how it would be enforced, and after that there would be a 30-day delay until the rule goes live.
On Twitter, he said that new data about teen vaping had necessitated the change in course. According to his agency, preliminary numbers from the National Youth Tobacco Survey showed more teens were taking up vaping, particularly flavored kinds.
I just announced with @POTUS and @FDACommissioner that we will be finalizing policies that will clear flavored e-cigarettes from the market. New provisional data show that youth use continues to rise rapidly, and we will not stand idly by.
— Secretary Alex Azar (@SecAzar) September 11, 2019
“In particular, the preliminary data show that more than a quarter of high school students were current (past 30 day) e-cigarette users in 2019 and the overwhelming majority of youth e-cigarette users cited the use of popular fruit and menthol or mint flavors,” the agency said in a release.
The FDA has repeatedly threatened to crack down on flavored e-cigarettes since government data from 2018 showed more than 3.6 million teens reported vaping during the past month, an increase of 1.5 million from the year before. The outbreak is renewing calls for tougher regulations from those who were already concerned about youth vaping. Flavors of the devices, which heat nicotine, range from mint to mango and gummy bears, and critics charge they entice teens into vaping.
Sharpless in a statement called the ban a “bold approach.” The ban on flavors raised Wednesday would go further than another administration proposal that would obligate retailers to sell flavored e-cigarettes in parts of their stores that are off-limits to minors. The idea would effectively ban the products in some places given that not all stores will be able to meet the building requirements. That plan had not applied to mint and methols, which are included in the ban the administration is putting together.
“We can’t allow people to get sick and we can’t have our youth be so affected,” Trump said.
Outside health groups and members of Congress have called on the Trump administration to enact tougher restrictions on e-cigarettes as a result of the lung illness outbreak. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee has summoned health officials to appear at a hearing on the matter Sept. 25 and may try to enact legislation that would ban e-cigarette flavors from being sold.
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, called the Trump administration’s actions “necessary and long-overdue” but said the policy would need to be “comprehensive, immediate, and long-lasting.”
In the midst of the outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged people not to use e-cigarettes at all, even though officials say they can’t pinpoint the exact cause for the illness and that it could be related to marijuana, nicotine, a combination, or even another unknown substance that has been mixed in.
The Food Administration has different guidance, telling people not to vape THC, the ingredient that causes the high in marijuana. Some of the samples scientists have examined related to the illness had vitamin E acetate added to marijuana, which could be a possible culprit.
Defenders of the products have said regulators shouldn’t be so quick to go after e-cigarette flavors and that Congress should instead zero in on dealing with THC, which is largely unregulated. They worry people will turn to regular cigarettes if they don’t have the option of using a device that tastes nothing like tobacco.
The Vapor Technology Association in a statement likened the Trump administration’s decision to the kind of policy advocated by “far left anti-business extremists” and said the ban would “public health travesty” given that the devices can help people quit smoking regular cigarettes.
“If a federal flavor ban is enacted, more than 10 million adults will be forced to choose between smoking again (something the FDA has said will happen if vapor products are pulled from the market) or finding what they want and need on the black market,” the group said.
E-cigarette companies had already been facing a court-ordered May 2020 deadline to submit their products to the FDA for approval, and manufacturers of the flavored products would be able to put their devices back on the market if they are approved. In order to gain the green light from the FDA, manufacturers will be required to show that their devices wouldn’t cause teens to pick up vaping.
Vaping manufacturers have filed for an injunction over the application deadline, with smaller manufacturers saying the timeline is impossible and that they don’t have clear guidance about what regulators need.
