Faces of the Industry: Stacey
Faces of the Industry: Alyssa
Faces of the Industry: Jon
VTA’s Response to the FDA’s Civil Seizure Action
American-made vaping products—produced by companies that have fully complied with the FDA’s own guidance and the PMTA process—are now being seized nationwide. For more than five years, VTA has warned the agency of flaws in its regulatory system, yet the FDA refuses to engage with stakeholders—an irresponsible course of action that now threatens the bankruptcy of hundreds of thousands of small businesses nationwide.
As of today, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Attorney General are holding a press conference at a vape distribution center in Illinois to highlight their seizures. In Illinois alone, the vape industry produces an economic output of over $544 million and supports 2,666 jobs. Vapor businesses have paid over $175,998,400 in wages and benefits to their employees in the state and generated $92,383,700 in state and local tax revenue.
If this course of action continues, it will immediately wipe out 150,000 American small businesses and eliminate 90,000 jobs across the country. The result: a catastrophic loss of over $5 billion in state, local, and federal tax revenue this year alone—ballooning to $20 billion over the course of President Donald Trump’s second term. The vaping industry currently contributes more than $17 billion annually to the U.S. economy, and that economic engine will vanish overnight.
The consequences of this reckless course of action cannot be overstated. This is not only an assault on public health—it is an assault on American workers, small businesses, and the tax base that supports our communities.
The actions of HHS and the DOJ are detrimental to the state, local, and federal economies, and they must reverse course immediately.
Statement attributable to Tony Abboud, Executive Director of the Vapor Technology Association.
VTA’s Response to the TRO Granted in the State of Alabama Today
Yesterday, in Vapor Technology Association, et al. v. Spencer, et al., Judge Monet Gaines granted our request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the enforcement of Alabama House Bill 8 on the basis that the law is unconstitutional under the Foreign Commerce Clause and unconstitutional due to preemption. Today’s TRO extends to the plaintiffs in the case and VTA members.
This ruling marks an important step in our ongoing fight to protect small businesses from unfair and overreaching laws and regulations. While this is a temporary measure, it provides some critical relief for the many local vape retailers and distributors in Alabama working hard to serve adult consumers and stay afloat in a challenging environment.
VTA will continue to lead the fight in courts across the country, defending the rights of small businesses, promoting innovation, and standing up for the 500,000 Americans who die every year from cigarette-related illnesses by advocating for access to safer vaping alternatives. However, it’s imperative that the Trump Administration prioritizes the adoption of new, common-sense, and streamlined scientific federal requirements that will protect American citizens and American business moving forward.
Statement attributable to Tony Abboud, Executive Director of the Vapor Technology Association.
Popcorn Lung and Vaping is Fake News
Today’s media outlets, government officials, and elected representatives continue to falsely link vaping nicotine (i.e., e-cigarettes) to condition called “popcorn lung.” Worse, these views are likely caused by disinformation pushed by “public health groups” such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Lung Association.
“There have been no confirmed cases of popcorn lung in people who use e-cigarettes.”
Health Agencies Have Declared Popcorn Lung a Myth
The UK’s National Health Services “Vaping myths and the facts” page says:
“Fact: Vaping does not cause “popcorn lung”, the common name for a rare disease called bronchiolitis obliterans. The disease was found in a group of factory workers exposed to a chemical (diacetyl) used to flavour popcorn. Diacetyl is contained in cigarette smoke, but it is banned as an ingredient in UK-regulated nicotine vapes and e-liquids.”
Similarly, the Government of Canada’s Health Canada “Risks of vaping” page states:
“Did you know?
Vaping is not known to cause Popcorn lung. Bronchiolitis obliterans (also known as “Popcorn lung”), a chronic disease that damages the small airways in the lungs, has been linked to diacetyl exposure. Diacetyl is a flavouring chemical used to give butter-like and other flavours to food. While once common in vaping products, researchers at Health Canada have in recent years found diacetyl in only 2 samples out of more than 800 vaping liquids available in Canada. To date, there have been no confirmed cases of popcorn lung disease as a result of vaping in Canada.”
To put a finer point on it, Cancer Research UK Confirms Popcorn Lung a Myth:
“Does vaping cause popcorn lung?
- E-cigarettes don’t cause the lung condition known as popcorn lung
- There have been no confirmed cases of popcorn lung reported in people who use e-cigarettes
- E-cigarettes are an option to help people who smoke to stop”
“A Sensational Idea”
This article from the Reason Foundation further debunks the myth that vaping causes popcorn lung and explains how the myth started and why it remains.
Many years ago, a Harvard Study found the substance that causes popcorn lung – diacetyl – present in some e-cigarettes but at very low levels (9 micrograms per cartridge on average). And that is all that the media needed to promote this “sensational idea.” But, as explained by the Reason Foundation, manufacturers stopped using diacetyl in the U.S. voluntarily many years ago.
Today’s Cigarettes Contain 750 Times the Amount of Diacetyl of Versions of E-Cigarettes; And Still No Popcorn Lung
Combustible cigarettes that are being sold in gas stations, convenience stores, pharmacies and grocery stores throughout the U.S. have been found to contain 336 micrograms of diacetyl in each cigarette. There is no comparison between the level of expsoure to diacetyl in cigarettes compared to vapes, and still there has been no link between smoking cigarettes and “popcorn lung.”
“The 2015 Harvard study, for example, found an average of nine micrograms of diacetyl per e-cigarette cartridge in the samples that tested positive for the chemical. Combustible cigarettes, meanwhile, contain approximately 336 micrograms of diacetyl per cigarette. This means that a cartridge-per-day vaper would be exposed to just nine micrograms of diacetyl, while pack-per-day smokers are exposed to more than 6,700 micrograms of diacetyl every day—750 times more diacetyl exposure than vapers. Yet, a link between smoking and popcorn lung has yet to materialize.”
VTA: Safe. Regulated. For Americans.
VTA’s Response to the FDA’s Marketing Granted Order of Juul Labs
The Vapor Technology Association recognizes that while the FDA’s decision to authorize JUUL Labs’ e-cigarette products for sale in the U.S. is a long-overdue step that reaffirms the role of vaping in helping adults quit smoking, one authorization is simply not enough to put a dent in the number of American lives lost to cigarettes.
The American independent vaping industry is at risk of being shut down. The FDA has deputized Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to seize products at the border based on an unlawful regulation. These interdictions are threatening tens of thousands of American small businesses and have limited adult Americans’ access to their most favored products, which make up over 70% of the market.
Given that JUUL’s application took FDA more than four years to review, VTA hopes that the authorization of the JUUL device is the catalyst for desperately needed streamlined FDA regulatory guidance that can create a marketplace filled with less harmful products that are essential to adult consumers and that are made in America.
We urge the FDA to streamline the regulation by bringing transparency, predictability, and consistency to a new guidance, end unlawful border seizures to save American small businesses, and recognize what’s at stake: the lives of 500,000 Americans who die each year from smoking.
Statement attributable to Tony Abboud, Executive Director of the Vapor Technology Association.
###
One-Million Dollar Ad Campaign Launched by VTA Urging Immediate Action to Remove Youth Targeted Vapes
Washington, D.C. – Monday, July 14, 2025: Today, the Vapor Technology Association (VTA) launched a massive seven-figure cable, broadcast, and digital advertising campaign urging President Donald Trump and his administration to draw a firm distinction between illicit youth-targeting vapor products and the safer, adult-focused alternatives that help millions of Americans quit smoking cigarettes.
VTA’s national ad buy will air across major networks including Fox News, Newsmax, Bloomberg, NBC, ESPN, and high-profile Sunday news programs on select broadcast networks to reach a wide and influential stakeholder audience. The ads are strategically designed to target key decision-makers in Washington, D.C. and at President Trump’s Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. With this campaign, VTA is sending a clear and direct message: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are acting against President Trump’s wishes to save the flavored vaping industry.
The campaign highlights the need to crack down on illicit Chinese vapor products that target youth with video games, apps, and cartoon imagery all while protecting the responsible, adult-oriented vapor products sold by American small businesses – a policy position for which VTA has long advocated.
“VTA is calling on President Trump to take aggressive action targeting Chinese vape products that target our kids and evade FDA safety checks,” said Tony Abboud, Executive Director of the Vapor Technology Association. “But, we also urge him to keep his promise to protect the multibillion-dollar independent U.S. vaping industry, save tens of thousands of small businesses across the country struggling to survive under FDA’s latest actions, and ensure adults retain access to the vape products they are using to quit smoking – all of which are in jeopardy now. Despite attempts by some in the media and, specifically, advertising executives who attempted to censor our policy statements and longstanding advocacy positions, VTA and the member companies we represent will not stand down to the opposition. We are taking our fight right to them, and we are confident our message and campaign will resonate with the Trump administration and the millions of vaping voters who support him.”
Right now, VTA recognizes that rogue bureaucrats and an overreaching FDA is deputizing CBP to interdict virtually all vape products at the border, an effort which is disrupting the entire independent U.S. vape distribution chain and is in direct opposition to President Trump’s promise to save this industry. Instead of targeting vapor products marketed towards our youth, these agencies are focused on shutting down legally operating independent American vape businesses that help adults quit smoking. VTA’s campaign reiterates our call for streamlined regulations that allow the tens of thousands of small businesses that make up this industry to thrive and encourages President Trump and his team to stand up for consumer choice.
VTA’s engagement with the Trump administration continues in our pursuit of the following policy priorities: collaborating with the FDA to end former President Biden’s illegal vape regulation and replace it with a scientific, streamlined regulatory guidance focused on product safety; supporting enforcement actions against illicit Chinese vapor products and implementing common-sense marketing restrictions; and developing a transparent set of guidelines to facilitate product entry into the country and protect tens of thousands of American businesses.
VTA’s campaign is meant to reinforce the association’s long-standing commitment to reducing youth vaping while safeguarding access to safer vaping alternatives for the tens of millions of American adults trying to quit smoking – and defending the thousands of jobs supported by independent vape companies nationwide. The campaign also sends a clear message: the FDA’s actions are out of step with President Trump’s stated priorities, and it’s time for the agency to correct course and follow President Trump’s agenda – not former President Biden’s.
To watch VTA’s broadcast placement, please visit this link.
# # #
