E-cigarettes could be BANNED over fears vaping attracts underage smokers as health boss warns ‘game over’
E-CIGARETTES face being banned throughout the US if they continue to entice underage smokers, government health experts have warned.
The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says all vaping products face an "existential threat" if their use among the young carries on rising.
“I’ll tell you this. If the youth use continues to rise, and we see significant increases in use in 2019, on top of the dramatic rise in 2018, the entire category will face an existential threat,” said Scott Gottlieb.
“It could be ‘game over’ for some these products until they can successfully traverse the regulatory process. I think the stakes are that high.”
He was speaking at a public forum in Maryland focused on eliminating the use of "electronic cigarette and other tobacco product use" among American youth.
His warnings came after his agency threatened action against those stores selling e-cigarettes to minors and seized documents from Juul Labs - the maker of a popular vaping product.
It could be ‘game over’ for some these products
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb
Gottlieb added he was aware the possible removal of e-cigarette products “would be a blow” for adult smokers, who he said “could potentially benefit from these products.”
He singled out the Juul brand when discussing the rise of e-cigarette use among high school pupils, saying: “Indeed, the ubiquity of this one product became so entrenched so quickly that it gave rise to its own verb -juuling.’”
The company has responded with a statement denouncing e-cigarette use among minors, calling it “completely unacceptable”,
It said underage vaping is “directly opposed to our mission of eliminating cigarettes by offering existing adult smokers a true alternative to combustible cigarettes”.
“We are moving full steam ahead on implementing our action plan to limit youth usage,” Ted Kwong, a spokesperson for Juul Labs, told .
A Juul is a sleek, black vaping pen that looks a lot like a flash drive but isn’t one.
It fits into the palm of the hand and is so discreet it’s become popular with teens looking to use them away from adult eyes.