New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing 13 e-cigarette manufacturers, distributors and retailers, including convenience stores for their role in creating a “youth vaping epidemic,” James said in a statement on Thursday.
The lawsuit is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars, including financial penalties for wide-ranging violations of local, state and federal laws.
The manufacturers, distributors and retailers named in the lawsuit are Puff Bar, MYLE Vape, Pod Juice, Mi-One Brands, Happy Distro, Demand Vape, EVO Brands, PVG2, Magellan Technology, Midwest Goods, Safa Goods, EVO Brands and Price Point Distributors, as well as Price Point principals Weis Khwaja, Hamza Jalili and Mohammad Jalili.
The attorney general’s office said these companies are responsible for illegally distributing, marketing and selling flavored disposable vapes, including popular brands such as Puff Bar, Elf Bar, Geek Bar, Breeze and MYLE, which are popular among youth.
“The vaping industry is taking a page out of Big Tobacco’s playbook: they’re making nicotine seem cool, getting kids hooked and creating a massive public health crisis in the process,” said James. “For too long, these companies have disregarded our laws in order to profit off of our young people, but we will not risk the health and safety of our kids. Today, we are taking critical steps toward holding these companies accountable for the harm they have caused New Yorkers.”
The attorney general said that the vape products attract young people, with eye-catching, cartoonish packaging and flavors, including Blue Razz Slushy, Sour Watermelon Patch and Unicorn Cake.
An investigation by the attorney general’s office found that these companies rely on social media. Puff Bar ran a social media advertisement during the early days of the pandemic lockdown that billed their vapes as “the perfect escape from back-to-back zoom calls [and] parental texts,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges the companies have knowingly and intentionally ignored FDA warning letters and regulations, as well as the federal Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, which prohibits online sales of vaping products to consumers and unlicensed retailers.
New York banned the sale of flavored vapor products in 2020. To date, the FDA has authorized 34 e-cigarette products and devices and none of the companies named in the lawsuit have received authorization, the attorney general’s office said.
The attorney general’s office said it is pursuing the court to force the companies to return all profits earned because of their illegal activity. The complaint is also asking the companies to inform consumers of the dangers of vaping, and the creation of an abatement fund to address and mitigate the effects of the public health crisis these companies helped create.
According to the New York State Department of Health (DOH), e-cigarette use among high school students has “skyrocketed” over the past decade, with flavored vapes being the “most commonly” used tobacco and nicotine product among youth, the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Data from the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), said e-cigarette use among U.S. youth dropped to its lowest level in a decade. The findings of the NYTS were collected between Jan. 22 and May 22 in 2024. Current use is defined as use on one or more days during the past 30 days.
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