Others in the industry expressed concern over the FDA’s actions. Officials with Camarillo, Calif.-based Spark Vapor Brands took issue with some of the agency’s statements. From Spark’s perspective, the FDA “sounded the alarm,” but produced data summaries “predominantly from 2011 through 2015 and ... taken out of a larger context.”
In the view of Spark officials, the FDA’s comments “mask differentiation between experimentation vs. constant use … [and] present statistical percentages without data on the rotation of teens into and out of the vape category within the larger total.”
Spark officials said they merchandise products in compliance with FDA rules, have designed the company website to restrict teen access and have no interest in selling vaping products to minors.
Officials with the Washington, D.C.-based Consumer Choice Center said the FDA must act on the issue of underage youth and vaping, but said the agency should not forget the benefits of e-cigarettes for adult smokers. “We take [the FDA’s] announcement as a potentially positive step, if the FDA action signals its ability to at once enforce existing laws preventing sales to minors, while at the same time making sure that adult smokers are aware that products like Juul are significantly less harmful than cigarettes,” said Jeff Stier, senior fellow with the Consumer Choice Center. “We call on the FDA to take action on this front immediately, by unequivocally informing smokers that these products are dramatically less harmful than cigarettes.”