On June 1 the FDA issued warnings to 29 retailers and one distributor for illegally selling unauthorized e-cigarette products. The e-cigarette products sold were various types of Puff and Hyde brand disposable e-cigarettes, which were the two most common brands used by youth e-cigarette users in the previous year, and Puff products, which also included Puff Bar.
The FDA said today’s action demonstrates the agency’s imperative to ban individual retailers and distributors from selling unauthorized e-cigarette products.
Today’s warning letter is the result of an unannounced investigation into hundreds of retailers and distributors nationwide selling unauthorized e-cigarettes popular with young people – specifically Puff and Hyde products. The products mentioned in the warning letters are all disposable e-cigarettes, the type of e-cigarette products most commonly used by youth.
With more than 560 warning letters issued, the FDA could not have anticipated the 27 million e-cigarette applications it received, and the daily lawsuits that exhausted the agency. Despite this, the FDA has remained steadfast in its commitment to protecting youth from the dangers of tobacco products by ensuring that no illegal products are sold, marketed or distributed. These efforts include ongoing monitoring of the marketplace to identify offending products, including existing and emerging disposable e-cigarette products.