The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently unveiled strict curbs on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in its latest move to address skyrocketing levels of underage use.

Most convenience stores and gas stations will be banned from selling sweet and fruity flavored e-cigarette vapors, while online sales will be stopped until websites install new age-verification safeguards. The agency is also moving to propose bans on menthol flavors in traditional combustible cigarettes and flavor cigars as first announced last month in a semiannual preview of regulatory actions.

"When the latest e-cigarettes are designed to almost mimic a flash drive and feature flavors like strawberry and chocolate, it's not hard to see why they're on the rise among American youth," said ACC President C. Michael Valentine, MD, FACC. "It is the responsibility of the health community – public organizations, medical societies and even individual clinicians – to make it less likely American children become smokers. Furthermore, we have concerns about the widespread use of a product for which, frankly, the medical and scientific community has yet to clearly establish the long-term health implications. The FDA's announcement restricting the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and other tobacco products shows they are ready to do their part in making tobacco products less available to our children."

Clinical Topics: Cardiovascular Care Team, Dyslipidemia, Prevention, Lipid Metabolism, Smoking

Keywords: ACC Publications, Cardiology Magazine, Health Policy, United States Food and Drug Administration, Menthol, Flavoring Agents, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, Tobacco Products, Tobacco Use Cessation Devices, Commerce, Societies, Medical

< Back to Listings