News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA plans to ban the sale of all flavored e-cigarette pods except tobacco and menthol, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. Open tank vaping systems sold by vape shops that allow consumers to custom-mix flavors will be excluded from the ban.

Federal officials are expected to announce the ban on sweet- and fruit-flavored pods later this week amid an alarming rise in vaping by youth in the country. The latest decision is a step back from the Trump administration's plans in September to ban all flavored e-cigarettes including mint and menthol, other than tobacco.

The new policy aims to combat an epidemic of underage vaping. Among teen and youth, e-cigarette pods, which are disposable, prefilled cartridges containing vaping liquids, are highly popular.

As per a new study results, the use of e-cigarettes among high school students increased on an alarmingly high rate in 2019 compared to just a year ago, with rates doubling in the past two years.

Meanwhile, e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, which is under scrutiny for popularizing e-cigarettes among teen and youth, in October decided to suspend the sale of non-tobacco, non-menthol-based flavors in the U.S.

In its various steps to face the severe crisis in youth vaping, the Government recently raised the federal minimum age to buy tobacco products, including traditional products such as cigarettes and cigars, as well as e-cigarettes, to 21 years from 18 year previously,

In November, The American Medical Association or AMA had sought a total ban on all e-cigarette and vaping products that do not meet FDA approval as cessation tools, amid the significant increase in e-cigarette use among youth.

The latest news on FDA plan comes as the national outbreak of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury, called EVALI has claimed 54 lives, while a total of 2,506 were hospitalized as of December 17, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC.