It’s official: The federal government has orchestrated a nationwide ban on vaping products in vape shops, gas stations, or wherever else you might stock up, it announced Thursday. But instead of landing the vape industry a huge blow as it initially promised, the Trump administration slackened its stance and is only going after certain products. Namely, flavored pods and the cartridge-based e-cigarettes that take them. The ban does not cover menthol- and tobacco-flavored pods, nor does it cover open-tank vaping devices, which require the user to prepare their own vape juice. Pod fiends dreaming about strawberry fields of cloudy mango vapors (or whatever) will weep. Everyone else, not so much.
In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) emphasized its directive to prevent America’s youth from getting hooked on nicotine—the kids love to vape flavored nicotine pods—while still giving adults access to menthol and tobacco vape products as an FDA-sanctioned means to quit smoking cigarettes.
“By prioritizing enforcement against the products that are most widely used by children, our action today seeks to strike the right public health balance by maintaining e-cigarettes as a potential off-ramp for adults using combustible tobacco while ensuring these products don’t provide an on-ramp to nicotine addiction for our youth,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
The ban gives e-cigarette companies under scrutiny 30 days to stop manufacturing, distributing, and selling their products unless they apply for authorization through the Food and Drug Administration to legally continue onward—whether they make flavored pods or not. The FDA has yet to authorize a single such product. As for Juul, the infamous baddie of the teen vaping epidemic, it has already pulled most of its flavored pods from retailers. The ban also cracks down on companies that appear to be marketing to underage Americans. (Recently, the Trump administration upped the legal age to buy nicotine and tobacco products to 21.)
Source:menshealth.com
