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Washington, D.C.— The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued marketing denial orders (MDOs) to 31 companies who sought to sell 300,000 flavored electronic cigarettes. The decision requires these manufacturers to remove those identified products already on the market. The industry flooded the market with kid-friendly flavored products to lure young consumers into addiction. The denials, issued late Friday, come after the agency recently denied applications from three other companies and comes ahead of a court-ordered deadline of September 9th for the FDA to determine whether new tobacco products, including most e-cigarettes, can be legally sold in the U.S.
A statement from Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) follows:
“The FDA’s decision to deny an additional 300,000 flavored e-cigarette products from being sold on the market is positive momentum toward effectively addressing the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use in this country. The tobacco industry has long used flavors to hook kids and e-cigarette manufacturers have taken that strategy even further with their unregulated products. All flavors are a threat to public health, including menthol. Menthol has been used by the tobacco industry to target specific populations, in particular the Black community, for addiction often resulting in premature death. All menthol flavored products should be denied marketing orders.
“FDA is putting the health of our nation’s children ahead of nefarious industry interests by repeatedly denying authorization of sale of these products. FDA should quickly enforce the removal of any of these products that are currently being sold on the market. We strongly urge the FDA to continue this approach for all flavored tobacco products, including menthol, and to enforce decisions swiftly. ACS CAN pledges to work with the Administration and Congress to address the youth e-cigarette epidemic and remove deadly tobacco products from the market.”