June 16, 2023
Carr: FDA Must Take Further Action to Protect Children from Illegal Flavored E-Cigarettes
ATLANTA, GA – Attorney General Chris Carr has written to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to request that the agency take further action to address the illegal e-cigarette products that are inundating Georgia’s communities and endangering youth. This includes providing additional clarification regarding the sale of disposable e-cigarettes in kid-friendly flavors and strengthening enforcement efforts as it relates to unregulated e-cigarettes from foreign markets.
“Every day that the FDA does not take further action, we risk the health and safety of our children who will get their hands on these illegal and addictive products,” said Carr. “Foreign markets, most notably China, are flooding our state with unregulated e-cigarettes at an alarming rate, and it is past time our federal government take additional steps to address this issue. With child-friendly flavors and high doses of nicotine, these disposal e-cigarettes are uniquely positioned to devastate our kids, and we must do all we can to protect them.”
As mentioned in Carr’s letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, China shipped 700 million harmful e-cigarettes to the United States just last year.
While the FDA recently issued an import alert and warning letters to some of the most popular brands of flavored disposable e-cigarettes, Carr notes, “The FDA’s recent warning specifically references Esco Bars but does not more broadly address certain other brands in the marketplace… Additionally, consumers are uncertain about which flavored disposable products have been authorized by federal authorities… This fog created by the FDA’s approach, combined with enforcement challenges at the state and local levels, has created a climate where bad actors may continue to exploit the system.”
Find a copy of the letter here .