Regulators may require e-cigarettes to be sold in vape shops to curb youth use

Regulators are considering prohibiting some e-cigarette sales in convenience stores and confining them to vape shops, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Friday.

High school e-cigarette use surged 77 percent last year, Gottlieb said in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box," citing preliminary figures from the federal Youth Tobacco Survey. Middle school use skyrocketed about 50 percent last year, he said. Gottlieb has called these levels "epidemic."

Many teens are illegally buying e-cigarettes, including the most popular one, Juul, in convenience stores, Gottlieb said. To tackle that issue, regulators could limit sales of flavored e-cigarette products to vape shops, he said.

"We're looking at what can be sold in brick-and-mortar stores and whether or not flavored products can be sold in regular stores like a 7-11 and a truck stop and a gas station, or whether or not flavored products on the market should be confined to adult vaping shops, which generally tend to do a better job of checking ID," Gottlieb said.

The FDA is also weighing a ban of online sales of e-cigarettes while it crafts regulation with guidelines on online sales, he said.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

from Top News & Analysis https://ift.tt/2CQAWYl
via IFTTT