FDA's court-ordered deadline has come and gone, and still no action on JUUL. While we appreciate FDA’s announcement today that it has made “significant progress” in reviewing the applications of more than 6.5 million flavored e-cigarette products, we are disappointed in, and frustrated by, FDA’s delay in announcing a decision on JUUL. FDA has allowed JUUL and its many copycats to remain on the market without full regulation since 2016. Millions of parents whose kids’ lives have been upended by the youth vaping epidemic created by JUUL have waited long enough. Every day that JUUL is on the market increases the likelihood that more young people will use these nicotine-heavy, wildly addictive tobacco products. Given FDA’s own statement today that JUUL and all other new tobacco products covered by the court order are marketed unlawfully if they have not been formally approved, we expect FDA to exercise its enforcement discretion and pull JUUL and others from the market IMMEDIATELY until the agency has made its final decisions. With 3.6 million kids currently vaping--and almost 40% of them using menthol-flavored products, often menthol JUUL--parents are relying on the agency to protect our kids from these dangerous devices. We don’t have another moment to waste. |
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