The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to five online retailers for selling unauthorized e-cigarette products.
The warning letters, sent Wednesday, cited a selection of popular youth-appealing e-cigarette products, which include disposable products from Elf Bar/EB Design/EB Create, Funky Republic, Lost Mary, Hyde, Breeze and Cali Bars, the FDA said.
The FDA continues to issue warning letters informed through the agency's ongoing monitoring of multiple surveillance systems to identify products that data indicate are popular among youth or have youth appeal, the agency said.
"Protecting our nation's youth from the harms of tobacco products is crucial to our center’s public health mission,”said Brian King, director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). “We’re committed to continuing to use a data-driven approach to identify and prevent the sale of unauthorized tobacco products, and to take compliance and enforcement action, when appropriate."
The online retailers that received warning letters sold or distributed e-cigarettes that lack authorization from the FDA in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. They have 15 working days to respond with how they will correct the violation and prevent future ones.
The warnings follow Monday’s FDA action that it has filed civil money penalty (CMP) complaints against 20 brick-and-mortar retailers, which include convenience stores, for the illegal sale of unauthorized Elf Bar e-cigarette products. The agency is seeking the maximum penalty amount of $20,678 per violation from each retailer.
E-cigarette products remain the most commonly used tobacco product among both high school and middle school students, according to the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
Since Feb. 26, the FDA has issued more than 440 warning letters to and filed 100 CMP actions against retailers for the sale of unauthorized e-cigarettes.
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