“Not only is it a problem overall, but really specifically with respect for children,” Trump told reporters at the White House after a meeting with advisers including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Ned Sharpless.Vaping has become a source of growing unease for parents and public-health officials over the past year amid signs that underage use is surging. A U.S.
Azar said the FDA would issue guidance in coming weeks that would lead to all flavored vaping products other than tobacco-flavored offerings being removed from the market within 30 days. Producers of other flavors would then have to apply with the agency to resume sales. To gain FDA approval, an e-cigarette manufacturer must prove to the agency that the benefit of its product outweighs the risk, including the potential for underage vapers to pick up the habit.
Congress gave the FDA the authority to oversee tobacco in 2009. The agency began policing cigarettes then but didn’t add e-cigarettes to its portfolio until 2016.The FDA had been looking to limit most flavored e-cigarette product sales, excluding mint and menthol, to online sales with age verification and vaping shops.
Cigarette alternatives, including vaping pens, have become a big business. Juul Labs Inc., which has the biggest share of the U.S. market for e-cigarettes, is one of the country’s most richly valued closely held startups. Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. last year invested about $13 billion in Juul at a valuation of approximately $35 billion. Altria shares fell as much as 0.8% in New York trading on Wednesday.