From: BU Today | POV
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So while it’s true that the regulation is technically not as stringent as an outright ban, for all intents and purposes, it is going to be impossible for the majority of gas stations and convenience stores to sell e-cigarettes and related products.
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From: City of Chicago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined Corporation Counsel Ed Siskel, Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner (BACP) Rosa Escareno, and Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) Commissioner Julie Morita, MD today to announce that the City of Chicago will file suit against eight online sellers of e-cigarette products for illegally selling their products to Chicago youth. The lawsuit, which will be filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County on Tuesday, is one of several initiatives designed to combat the illicit marketing and sales of e-cigarette products to Chicago’s young people.
From: Bloomberg
The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called the presence of menthol flavors in nicotine products a major problem that has made it easy for young people to start smoking.
“Menthol is a significant problem,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said at an event in Washington Tuesday, ahead of an expected announcement by the agency later this week of plans to restrict the use of some flavors, including menthol, in tobacco products.
From: Market Watch
By Betsy McKay & Jennifer Maloney & Anne Marie Chaker
E-cigarette startup Juul Labs Inc., faced with a regulatory crackdown and criticism that its marketing has attracted underage users, plans to stop selling most of its flavored nicotine liquids at bricks-and-mortar stores, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The move comes as the Food and Drug Administration prepares to announce sharp restrictions as soon as next week on the sale of such products. The new rules would be effective immediately.
From: The Washington Post
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As soon as next week, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is expected to announce a ban on the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes in tens of thousands of convenience stores and gas stations across the country, according to senior agency officials. The agency will also impose such rules as age-verification requirements for online sales, the officials say.
Gottlieb also is expected to propose banning menthol in regular cigarettes. The agency has been collecting public comments on such a prohibition, which is a major goal of the public health community but is likely to be strongly opposed by the cigarette industry.
From: Forbes
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Which leads us to Altria’s announcement on October 25th that they would discontinue most of their flavored e-cigarettes and provide support for a 21-year-old age limit for tobacco and vaping products. Altria will only sell menthol, tobacco and mint flavored vaping products going forward. Flavors such as “Vineyard Blend” and “Mardi Gras” will be going away. These other flavors only contribute about 20% of Altria’s sales in the space so it is a small price to pay to get on the FDA’s good side. Altria steps out of the way in a space that they have limited impact while other companies, like JUUL, deal with the FDA on the teen vaping problem.
From: Bloomberg Business
By Anna Edney, Sophie Alexander, and Olivia Zaleski
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In what it called the largest coordinated enforcement effort in its history, the agency over the summer issued more than 1,300 warning letters and fines to retailers that illegally sold e-cigarettes to minors. In September, FDA inspectors visited Juul Labs Inc.’s San Francisco headquarters and took away more than 1,000 pages of documents on sales and marketing. It gave e-cig makers until early November to put forward plans to “immediately and substantially reverse” the rise in youth vaping or face tougher rules. This was a change of tone for the FDA, which a year earlier had pushed back by four years until 2022 regulation of vaping devices beyond a current ban on sales to minors and a requirement for nicotine-addiction warnings. Gottlieb said then that he wanted to ensure an industry with the potential to reduce smoking rates wasn’t stymied by regulation.
From: CNBC
Larry McLaughlin bought his wife a Juul e-cigarette for Christmas as a stocking stuffer two years ago.
While she didn’t care for it, he did. And nearly two years later, the 62-year old construction worker still puffs on mango-flavored nicotine pods every day. It’s the first time in more than 40 years of smoking and at least a dozen attempts to quit that McLaughlin, who lives in suburban Chicago, has successfully stopped smoking tobacco.
From: The Washington Examiner