Attorney General Bonta Joins Multistate Coalition in Letter to FDA on Flavored Disposable E-Cigarettes

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multistate coalition in issuing a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on ways to better address the youth vaping crisis. The bipartisan coalition of 33 attorneys general urged the FDA to adopt new regulations and stronger enforcement mechanisms to address the rise of flavored, disposable e-cigarettes, which have recently grown in popularity among young users. The coalition also called for a federal ban on all flavored e-cigarettes and similar products.
 
“Flavored disposable e-cigarettes have become the new driver of the youth vaping crisis, with manufacturers using flavors and attractive marketing to addict a new generation to nicotine,” said Attorney General Bonta. “I urge the FDA to move swiftly to put a stop to the sale of these products before a new generation of teens starts vaping and smoking. The California Department of Justice is committed to protecting the health, quality of life, and future of California’s children.”
 
In recent years, flavored, disposable e-cigarettes and similar Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) products have flooded the market and surged in popularity. These products often have stronger nicotine strengths, larger volumes of e-liquid, and cheaper prices than traditional cartridge-based e-cigarettes, and are widely available in flavors like fruit, candy, and ice that are appealing to young people.
 
For example, the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and FDA, found that a vast majority of high school students who reported regularly using an e-cigarette said they used flavored products.
 
Today’s comment letter by the multistate coalition urged the FDA to:

• Ban all non-tobacco flavored ENDS products, both disposable and non-disposable;
• Implement regulations limiting the concentration and quantity of nicotine in e-liquids;
• Adopt regulations governing the marketing for e-cigarettes, with particular emphasis on social media and influencers;
• Adopt new enforcement priorities that clearly communicate the illegality of flavored disposable e-cigarettes; and
• Take stronger enforcement actions against manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of flavored disposable e-cigarettes.

In issuing today’s comment letter, Attorney General Bonta was joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

A copy of the letter can be found here.