As part of a bigger crackdown on vaping products aimed toward youth, the FDA banned the sale of Vuse Alto menthol electronic cigarettes on Thursday. Fruit-flavors were also banned.
According to the FDA, R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.’s Vuse is the most widely available e-cigarette brand in the United States, and its popularity has been growing rapidly among young people. The most widely consumed variant is Vuse Alto.
Menthol-flavored and mixed berry-flavored products were targeted by the FDA, with each taste available in three different nicotine levels. The corporation can submit a new regulatory application, but it cannot sell or distribute the products in the United States.
According to the FDA, Reynolds did not provide sufficient data to demonstrate that continuing to sell its products would be necessary to ensure the public’s health. With regard to the menthol and mixed-berry flavored goods, the company failed to prove that the benefits to adults exceeded the hazards to minors.
The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that among young people who reported vaping within the previous month, Vuse was the second most popular brand.
The FDA issued the mandate after reviewing Reynolds’s application to sell products within the United States. Tobacco-flavored products like Vuse Alto haven’t been given the go light by the FDA just yet.
British American Tobacco, Reynold’s parent firm, issued a statement saying it will immediately seek a stay of enforcement and contest the agency’s Marketing Denial Orders.
Although electronic cigarettes were initially marketed as a “healthier” alternative to tobacco cigarettes, their popularity quickly grew among young people thanks to the widespread availability of flavored e-cigarette pods in candy and fruit flavors.
E-cigarettes have surpassed traditional cigarettes as the most popular form of tobacco consumption among American teens.
The FDA is under fire for how it has dealt with electronic cigarette products, which require FDA approval to remain on the market. In 2016, the FDA decided that electronic cigarettes, along with conventional cigarettes, needed to be regulated by the agency.
