A lot of people around the United States are wondering whether or not flavored e-cigarettes and e-liquids are getting banned by the federal government and the answer is a bit complicated. It appears as if that is the case, as President Trump announced that the FDA will be putting out some “very strong recommendations” regarding flavored e-cigs and e-liquids.
Currently, the FDA has yet to announce the specifics of their recommendation, but it appears as if a federal ban on what may be most e-juice flavors is in the works. According to the acting FDA commissioner, the ban will require vape companies to pull their flavors from the US marketplace.
There’s a petition on We The People, a website established to petition the Whitehouse, that calls for Trump to not sign the federal ban on e-cig products. The petition has over 164,000 signatures, which is more than 64,000 more signatures that it needs to petition the Whitehouse.
Across the US, states have attempted to put in place their own bans on flavored vaping products. In some cases, they’ve even gone as far as to ban vaping products in general. Of course, there has been some pushback, including lawsuits. What exactly will become of all this has yet to be decided, however, vapers across the country have been stockpiling flavored e-cigs and e-liquids just in case they’re no longer on the market in the near future.
If they are banned, when they might come back remains unclear. There is, of course, the possibility that they will not come back to the marketplace once they’re banned, leaving many vapers feeling uncomfortable with what the future holds for them.
This seems ludicrous to some, especially when countries like England are backing vapers with moves intended to ease access to vaping products for the country’s adults, not restrict it. Their aim is to provide smokers with an alternative that is seen as a less harmful option to smoking. This, of course, is backed by scientific evidence that suggests vaping isn’t just less harmful than smoking, it’s a lot less harmful. This has led to increased competition among vape companies in the UK, which has caused the price of UK e liquid to reach record lows for consumers. But the US isn’t the only place where vaping is under attack by the government. There are countries where vaping is outright banned. blueberry cbd vape pen makes use of process of quality extraction and are also not that costly. It is safe and secure procedure. And then there are those that currently have regulations far stricter than the US.
What does this all mean for vapers around the world? It means that depending on where vapers live, how they’re treated can be quite different. There are vaper-friendly countries and then there are those that are cracking down on vaping. Interestingly, not all of the countries where vaping is harshly regulated are cracking down on cigarettes, leaving some scratching their heads as to why this is.
In the US, the same can also be said to some extent as the latest push to ban flavored vaping products says nothing of the cigarettes that are already on the market and killing millions of people. In the US, smoking kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, but yet the government’s move to ban flavored vaping products leaves cigarettes, cigars, and the like completely untouched and readily accessible to those of legal smoking age.
Juul Labs, the company that makes the most popular brand of e-cigs sold in the US, has taken it upon themselves to act. As a result, they’ve suspended the sale of all of their flavored e-liquids in the US outside of their mint, menthol, and tobacco flavors. This has left many Juul users scrambling to find alternatives. Not surprisingly, some US vapers stocked up on their favorite Juulpod flavors in advance, although those supplies are sure to dwindle and eventually deplete if Juul is unable or unwilling to resume selling them.
So to answer the question of whether the US is banning flavored e-cigs and e-liquids or not, it definitely appears to be the case, but with considerable pushback from vaping industry associations, vapers themselves, and their supporters, it would seem as if there’s a possibility, however small, that the ban might not come into play. There’s also a chance that it may be watered down to some extent, leaving vapers with more options than some are otherwise anticipating.