E-cigarettes could face online sales ban: Report
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration could ban the online sale of e-cigarettes as the agency looks to crack down on teen use of JUUL products and those of other leading brands.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said an e-commerce ban is one of several steps the agency could take, including a possible ban on flavored e-cigarettes, Axios reported. The FDA will unveil its roadmap for e-cigarette regulation, as well as statistics on teen use of the products, in November.
“The troubling reality is that electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) such as e-cigarettes have become wildly popular with kids,” the FDA said in a press release last April. “We understand, by all accounts, many of them may be using products that closely resemble a USB flash drive, have high levels of nicotine and emissions that are hard to see. These characteristics may facilitate youth use, by making the products more attractive to children and teens.”
E-cigarettes and other vaping products have spiked in popularity in recent years. The U.S. market is worth about $4 billion as of this year, according to multiple reports, and is expected to grow significantly in the near future.
JUUL Labs is the most popular e-cigarette brand in the U.S., owning anywhere from a 50 percent to 75 percent market share, according to most estimates. The FDA specifically warned the company last April that it would face penalties if it sold e-cigarettes to minors.