LEGAL UPDATE 

John, 

Great news: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that the FDA acted appropriately in denying marketing applications for nicotine e-liquids with blatantly kid-friendly flavors like “Jimmy the Juice Man Peachy Strawberry,” “Suicide Bunny Mother’s Milk and Cookies,” “Iced Lemonade” and “Killer Kustard Blueberry.”

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids' legal team helped defend the FDA in this case, filing amicus briefs, joined by our partners at each stage.

Tobacco-Free Kids Youth Ambassadors at the Supreme Court for oral arguments, 12.2.24.

A MAJOR VICTORY FOR KIDS

Today’s ruling in FDA v. Triton Distribution is a major victory for the health of America’s kids and efforts to protect them from the flavored e-cigarettes that have fueled a youth nicotine addiction crisis. It affirms that the FDA’s decisions to take flavored e-cigarettes off the market have been legally and scientifically sound and should encourage the FDA to stay the course.

This ruling is significant because the FDA has similarly denied marketing applications for over 26 million flavored e-cigarette products based on the overwhelming evidence that flavored products appeal to kids and pose significant risks to their health.

The FDA concluded that manufacturers had failed to produce sufficient evidence that these products would provide benefits in helping smokers quit that outweigh the substantial risks they pose to youth and therefore failed to demonstrate that the products would be appropriate for the protection of public health, as required by law.

THE FIGHT CONTINUES

While youth e-cigarette use has fallen sharply in the U.S., it remains a serious public health problem driven by flavored products. According to the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, over 1.6 million kids still use e-cigarettes and nearly 90% of them use flavored products. E-cigarettes expose kids to massive doses of highly addictive nicotine, which can harm developing brains, and to toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, lead and benzene.

While the FDA has authorized the sale of only 34 e-cigarette products, manufacturers continue to flood the market with thousands of illegal, unauthorized products.

To end this crisis, we're pushing the FDA to deny marketing applications for flavored e-cigarettes and step up enforcement efforts to clear the market of illegal products.

Today’s ruling provides major momentum for our campaign.

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Thanks for standing with us,