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VTA State Alert – Pennsylvania PMTA Registry Law

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Overview

Pennsylvania law establishes a state-managed directory for electronic nicotine delivery
systems (ENDS) products. Only products that comply with certification requirements and
are listed on the Pennsylvania directory may be legally sold in the Commonwealth following
enforcement.

Important Dates

  • April 21, 2026: An ENDS manufacturer seeking to have its product included on the ENDS directory must submit a certification to the Attorney General.
  • June 20, 2026: The ENDS directory will be published.
  • October 19, 2026: ENDS products not appearing on the directory shall be subject to seizure by the Commonwealth.
  • Annual: Submission of a certification to the Attorney General by April 21 of each year after 2026 to remain on the directory.

What You CLEARLY CAN Sell

  • Products that have submitted required certifications and are listed on the Pennsylvania ENDS Directory may be sold.
  • The directory is maintained by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General and can be accessed here: https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/ends/
  • Manufacturers must certify that each product complies with federal FDA requirements, including PMTA status (submitted, under review, or authorized).

“Electronic Cigarette that Contains Nicotine” means an electronic cigarette labeled,
advertised, or marketed as containing nicotine or an electronic cigarette determined by
the department or the Attorney General to contain nicotine. The term includes an
electronic cigarette that bears the same brand name as an electronic cigarette determined
to contain nicotine by the department or the Attorney General.

“Timely filed premarket tobacco product application.” An application under 21 U.S.C. § 387j
(relating to application for review of certain tobacco products) for an electronic cigarette
that contains nicotine derived from tobacco marketed in the United States as of August 8,
2016, that was submitted to the FDA on or before September 9, 2020, and was accepted for
filing by the FDA.

What You CLEARLY CANNOT Sell

  • Any ENDS product not listed on the Pennsylvania directory.

What Products Should You Consult Legal Counsel Before Selling

  • Any Hardware or Open System Devices that Do Not Contain Nicotine. 
  • Any component parts such as coils or batteries
  • Zero MG products or products that do not contain nicotine

Responsibilities by Entity

Manufacturers

  • Submit certification forms to the Pennsylvania Attorney General
  • For electronic cigarettes containing nicotine manufactured outside of the United  States, the manufacturer must provide a complete list of importers into the United States who sell the  products in the Commonwealth and the brand families sold by the importers 
  • Pay required registration fees
  • Provide documentation demonstrating compliance with federal FDA requirements
  • If a non-resident manufacturer, you must have an agent for service of process registered in Pennsylvania
  • Must submit a surety bond as required of at least $50,000. This amount may be required to be higher by the Attorney General

Distributors / Wholesalers

  • Verify products are listed before selling or shipping into Pennsylvania 

Retailers / Sellers

  • Sell ONLY products listed on the Pennsylvania Directory 
  • Stop selling non-listed products after the compliance deadline 
    • Note: 120-day sell-through provision after the Attorney General first makes the registry available 
  • Monitor directory updates regularly

Penalties for Non-Compliance

  • Civil penalties can include: 
    • Up to $1,500 per product per day for retailers, wholesalers, or importers (standard violations)  
    • Up to $1,000 per violation per product until the offending product is removed by manufacturers.  
  • Each non-compliant product offered for sale may be treated as a separate  violation, which can significantly increase total liability 
  • The Attorney General may also pursue other enforcement actions: 
    • Injunctive relief (court orders to stop sales) 
    • Product removal from the market  
    • Seizure of non-compliant products  

Ongoing violations can result in cumulative penalties and escalated enforcement actions. 

Important Note 

Federal FDA requirements still apply. Pennsylvania’s law adds an additional state-level restriction.

THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT INTENDED NOR SHOULD BE RELIED ON AS LEGAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT LEGAL COUNSEL ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC PRODUCTS. 

VTA Litigation Alert – New Mexico

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State of New Mexico, ex rel, Raul Torrez, Attorney General v. Circle K Stores, Inc., et al. County of Santa Fe, First Judicial District, Case No. D101-CV-2026-00900

Implications for Vapor Industry
VTA is monitoring a newly filed lawsuit brought by the State of New Mexico against several retailers and distributors involved in the sale of flavored disposable vapor products. We recognize that actions of this nature can raise concerns across the industry, and wanted to provide some perspective. The State’s claims rely heavily on generalized public health concerns regarding youth nicotine use and the characteristics of flavored products, rather than identifying specific misrepresentations or unlawful conduct by individual businesses. The State’s theory attempts to treat common product characteristics — such as flavor descriptions, packaging presentation, or consumer demand — as evidence of unfair or deceptive practices.

Key Takeaways for Industry Members

1. The Complaint advances untested legal theories directed at the supply chain
While the Complaint is framed as a public health enforcement action, it relies on expansive and lnovel theories of liability that seek to extend responsibility beyond manufacturers to include participants throughout the lawful supply chain, including retailers and distributor entities whose role is limited to the sale of finished products. The State alleges that participation in ordinary commercial relationships may constitute actionable conduct where products are later alleged to appeal to youth.  Novel and/or expansive theories often face serious scrutiny from courts.  We expect that to be the case here as the State attempts to advance the case.

2. Claims rely heavily on generalized policy concerns rather than individualized misconduct
The Complaint includes wholly incomplete facts and makes misrepresentations regarding youth nicotine use trends and potential health effects of e-cigarettes to support its case. But, the Complaint does not clearly identify specific misrepresentations directed to consumers by the named defendants. This approach reflects an effort to use consumer protection statutes to regulate product characteristics that remain the subject of ongoing federal regulatory review.  This too will invite serious scrutiny from the court.

3. The case seeks to expand traditional interpretations of “unfair practices” law
The State alleges that the marketing and distribution of flavored products may constitute unfair or deceptive conduct even where such products remain widely sold in regulated retail environments subject to age restrictions. Courts have historically required clear statutory authority before extending liability theories that could affect lawful commercial activity.  In Ohio, multiple cases filed by the Attorney General seeking to impose liability under that state’s consumer fraud and/or deceptive practices statute were dismissed based on federal preemption grounds.

4.  Example of Overreach:  Failure to warn claims ring hollow.
The State asserts numerous claims against the distributors and retailers asserting their failure to warn consumers (specifically youth and their parents) about the addictiveness of nicotine.  Of course, every product sold bear the specific federally mandated warning in the specific federally mandated formatting which expressly states that the product contains nicotine and that nicotine is an addictive chemical.  Thus, efforts by the State to impose some higher standard likely will be viewed skeptically.

VTA Perspective

VTA believes it is important for members and industry to understand that:

  • The Complaint does not alter existing federal regulatory requirements governing vapor products.
  • The parties to this case have numerous defenses to challenge the State’s novel and expansive legal theories.
  • The court will closely scrutinize State’s attempts to expand liability theories beyond established precedent, particularly when the alleged facts require serious leaps of logic.
  • Similar cases advancing similar novel theories, including those involving vaping products,  have faced substantial legal challenges and defeats before reaching the merits.
  • To date, the State has not sought to enjoin the sale of these products, but is pursuing this case directly against the named defendants who will mount their defense.

VTA is actively monitoring developments in this case and evaluating potential implications for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. We are coordinating with legal experts and policy stakeholders to ensure that the interests of responsible industry participants are represented, and will look for opportunities to do so in this case.

We encourage members and industry to remain calm and to continue adhering to applicable age-verification requirements, marketing standards, and regulatory obligations, as compliance remains the strongest safeguard against enforcement risk.

VTA will provide updates as the case progresses.

To stay informed and join our fight, please support our various efforts to fight against government overreach at the federal and state levels. You can do so by joining VTA TODAY!

State Enforcement Alerts – AL & VA

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Alabama and Virginia

These alerts are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Companies with questions should consult their legal counsel.

🔔 Member Alert: Alabama

Alabama Supreme Court Preserves TRO Blocking ENDS Registry Enforcement

Case Reference: VTA v. Marshall, Civ. No. 3-CV-2025-901284
Applies To: VTA Members, Retailers, and Distributors of ENDS Products in Alabama

Summary

The Alabama Supreme Court has denied the State’s request to stay a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that blocks enforcement of key provisions of Act 2025-403, Alabama’s ENDS PMTA registry law. As a result, the TRO remains in effect during the appeal, and Alabama enforcement officers may not enforce its PMTA registry or U.S.-manufacturing requirements against covered parties (see below) at this time.

What This Means for Members — Right Now

❌ What the State CANNOT Enforce (For Now)

Alabama may not enforce provisions that require:

  • ENDS products to have FDA authorization or a pending PMTA
  • Compliance with the PMTA registry created by Act 2025-403
  • ENDS products to be manufactured in the United States

👥 Who Is Covered by the TRO

The TRO applies to:

  • Vapor Technology Association (VTA) and VTA members as of 2:00 p.m. on August 12, 2025
  • Southside Vapes, LLC

We believe this protection also extends to distributors who sell products to VTA-member retailers.

What Has NOT Changed

All youth-access and marketing restrictions remain fully enforceable, including:

  • Alabama Code § 28-11-13 — Prohibits the sale of ENDS products to minors
  • Alabama Code § 28-11-16(d) — Prohibits marketing that appeals to minors

This list is not exhaustive. Members should consult the statute and their legal counsel for full requirements.

Important Case Developments

  • August 15, 2025: Circuit Court issued TRO blocking enforcement of Act 2025-403
  • October 16, 2025: Court denied preliminary injunction but extended TRO pending appeal
  • December 10, 2025: Alabama Supreme Court denied the State’s motion to stay TRO

Result: The TRO remains in effect throughout the appeal.

Key Takeaway

Alabama may not enforce its ENDS PMTA registry or U.S.-manufacturing requirements against covered parties while the appeal is pending, but all youth-access and marketing restrictions remain fully enforceable.

🔔 Member Alert: Virginia

Important Court Ruling Affecting Virginia Nicotine & Vapor Product Enforcement

Case Reference: NOVA Distro v. Miyares, Civil No. 3:25-cv-857 (E.D. Va.)
Applies To: Retailers and Distributors of Liquid Nicotine and Nicotine Vapor Products in Virginia

Summary

A federal court has temporarily blocked Virginia from enforcing key parts of its liquid nicotine and vapor product registry law. As a result, law enforcement officers within the Commonwealth cannot currently require products to be listed on the state directory or force products off the market based on FDA authorization status.

What This Means for Members — Right Now

✅ What You CAN Do (For Now)

  • Continue selling liquid nicotine and vapor products without regard to Virginia’s product directory
  • Operate without fear of state penalties, fines, or product removal based solely on FDA authorization status

❌ What Virginia CANNOT Do (For Now)

  • Enforce the state nicotine/vapor product directory
  • Require product removal or issue fines based on FDA authorization status
  • Act as an FDA enforcement agency

What Has NOT Changed

Virginia continues to enforce all other tobacco and nicotine laws, including:

  • Age-verification requirements
  • Licensing
  • Taxes
  • Compliance inspections

This ruling does not legalize unlawful sales practices.

Key Takeaway

Virginia may regulate how nicotine products are sold—but, for now, it cannot force products off shelves by enforcing federal FDA authorization rules.

Important Reminder:

This court order is temporary, and the case is ongoing. Enforcement rules may change.

VTA’s Response to the FDA’s Marketing Granted Order of Juul Labs

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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. 

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VTA’s Response to the FDA’s Latest Attempt to Ban Flavored Vapes Via Import “Red List”

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WASHINGTON – December 23, 2024 – Over the past few days, the Biden Administration’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and, specifically, Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), put their dire and total incompetence on display by quietly releasing a series of unclear and contradictory import red lists (Import Alert 96-06 and 96-07). These “alerts,” released just days before Christmas to hide their scheme, are a clear last ditch effort by CTP Director Brian King and the Biden Administration to use their waning days of power to ban flavored vaping products, effectively shutting down tens of thousands of small businesses and sabotaging President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to save flavored vaping.

The current revised alerts place the broadest barrier possible on entry of nicotine alternatives into the U.S. in an attempt to stop all e-cigarette and nicotine pouch products from reaching the millions of Americans who depend on them to quit smoking. CTP’s clumsy rollout of these alerts emphasizes its continuing rabid desire to ban products and is the latest example of this administration incompetently moving the goal posts and manipulating the market into a frenzy of confusion in order to ensure they leave President Trump with an even broader regulatory disaster when he enters office. Enough is enough. It is time that the unelected bureaucrats put down their pens and stop acting as if the election did not rebuke their policies and agenda.

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VTA Files SCOTUS Amicus Brief Opposing FDA in Wages & White Lion Case

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Washington, DC – October 15, 2024 – The Vapor Technology Association (VTA) filed with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) an amicus brief against the FDA and in support of Respondents in United States Food & Drug Administration v. Wages & White Lion Investments, dba Triton Distribution et al.

Unlike the amicus briefs we filed in this on-going litigation which focused on the FDA’s wrongdoings and the adverse economic impact of failing to hold the FDA to legal account, this brief focused on the recent dramatic change in SCOTUS jurisprudence in Loper Bright v. Raimondo which dramatically altered the manner in which federal courts evaluate whether agencies – like the FDA – have acted within the confines of the law by assessing the best reading of the statute. 

VTA’s amicus brief supports Respondents arguments and encourages SCOTUS to look skeptically – through the prism of Loper – at the FDA’s arguments and its post-hoc justifications for its actions. VTA’s amicus brief highlights three key points:

  1. LOPER REQUIRES THAT FDA’S DENIAL ORDERS BE SET ASIDE BECAUSE THEY VIOLATE THE BEST READING OF THE TOBACCO CONTROL ACT.
  2. THE BEST READING OF THE TOBACCO CONTROL ACT DOES NOT ALLOW FDA TO ISSUE DENIAL ORDERS BASED ON THE POST-HOC COMPARATIVE EFFICACY TEST.
  3. FDA PROCESS FOR REVIEWING PMTAS WAS HEAVILY CRITICIZED BY AN INDEPENDENT TOBACCO EXPERT PANEL WHICH CALLED OUT THE FDA’S FAILURE TO CONSISTENTLY APPLY THE APPH TEST.

VTA’s full amicus brief is available HERE.

Happy PMTAnniversary?

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Today marks the four year anniversary of the filing of the first Pre-Market Tobacco Applications.

Background:  In 2009, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA). One of the principal goals of the TCA was to reduce smoking death and disease by getting less harmful tobacco products (i.e., anything with nicotine that doesn’t require combustion) into the market through the filing of pre-market tobacco applications (PMTAs).  Sadly, not only are more Americans dying from smoking today than in 2009, but the trend will increase into the future, according to a recent study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.

Happy Anniversary?  Today – September 9, 2024 – is the four-year anniversary of the filing of PMTAs for all new tobacco products. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) claims it received applications for 26 million novel tobacco products, mostly electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes. What has the FDA done to get these less harmful tobacco products on the market and into the hands of Americans who smoke? Virtually nothing.

By the Numbers:  FDA leaders have repeatedly admitted that, “as a category” e-cigarettes are much less harmful and much less toxic than combustible cigarettes, and yet, the FDA proudly states that it has rejected more than 99% of all PMTAs for these less harmful alternatives to cigarettes.  To be clear, the FDA/CTP have approved a mere 8 ten millionths of a percent of PMTAs submitted.

Instead of authorizing less harmful non-combustible products, since September 9, 2020, according to the FDA’s own publicly available database, the FDA has authorized an incredible 6,670 new combustible tobacco products to be sold in the U.S.:

  • 3,232 new cigars;
  • 1,291 new pipe tobacco products;
  • 1,073 new hookah tobacco products; and
  • 973 new cigarettes.

829 of those 973 new cigarettes have been ushered into the market under the current FDA leadership of Commissioner Robert Califf, with more than 700 authorized by Director Brian King himself during his brief tenure as CTP Director.  In fact, in 2023 alone, Director King rushed to market 662 new cigarettes for Americans to smoke.

By comparison, CTP Director Brian King has only authorized just four vaping devices for 30 million Americans to use as alternatives to cigarettes.

All told, Director King has authorized 1,270 combustible products and only 14 non-combustible products, an absurd 91:1 ratio. In both categories, the overwhelming majority of products approved for the market are owned by Big Tobacco.

The E-Vaporating Youth Epidemic: Director King has justified his nearsighted and steadfast refusal to widely authorize virtually every flavored e-cigarette that are being widely used by American adults, claiming in virtually every product rejection that he was doing so to “protect youth.” But, just last week, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) just announced another dramatic decline in youth vaping, which now sits at the lowest level in more than a decade. According to the CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey for 2024, the youth vaping rate (users who say they’ve used an e-cigarette at least 1 time in the last 30 days) is now down to 5.9%. Even more importantly, despite the hysteric and repeated claims of widespread youth “addiction,” the number of youth who use e-cigarettes daily has dropped to 1.56%. These cratering youth use rates are now dramatically lower than the rampant and increasing rates of underage drinking, cannabis, fentanyl and opioid which, in many cases, lead directly to the death of our young people.

Taking Credit? Director King tried to take credit for the youth decline, saying his recent “enforcement” actions to remove e-cigarettes from the legal adult marketplace had something to do with declining youth use even though the declining trend had started long before he got to the FDA and long before he took any enforcement actions. In reality, before Director King took the helm at CTP, youth vaping rates had already begun dropping steeply in this country from the height of the JUUL epidemic in 2019. Without question, this dramatic downward youth trend is due much more to Congress raising the age in 2019 to buy tobacco products (a decision that VTA championed with Congress and the White House) rather than any recent enforcement actions by CTP.  All told, youth vaping has plummeted 71% since 2019.

The Upshot: Even with these historic lows, Director King still maintains a zero-tolerance nicotine policy, stating that he will not change the FDA’s current approach of effectively banning all flavored and other vaping products – thus continuing to deprive American adult smokers access to less harmful flavored e-cigarettes – so long as any youth continue to use e-cigarettes.

The Bottom line: The number of American adults who die from cigarettes continues to increase. Since September 9, 2020, 1,930,000 Americans have died from smoking cigarettes (480,000 each year), and approximately 64 million Americans suffered from smoking-related disease (16 M each year), according to the CDC, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. health care system and gross domestic product. In this time, the FDA has only allowed the purveyors of these deadly combustible products to strengthen their grip on the market. Meanwhile, more and more Americans die from smoking, making this anything but a happy anniversary.

The FDA is Objectively Failing

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With over 16 million Americans suffering from smoking related disease, and nearly 500,000 Americans dying annually, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products has chosen to use its enormous regulatory power to deprive Americans of access, if not outright ban, all non-combustible alternatives to cigarettes in the U.S. despite leading tobacco control researchers demonstrating they are the most effective tool available to help people quit smoking.

“It is now time for the medical community to acknowledge this progress and add e-cigarettes to the smoking cessation toolkit… U.S. public health agencies and professional medical societies should reconsider their cautious positions on e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. The evidence has brought e-cigarettes to the tipping point. The burden of tobacco-related disease is too big for potential solutions such as e-cigarettes to be ignored.”

Dr. Nancy Rigotti, Harvard Medical School

Only a few years ago –  regulators, scientists and harm reduction advocates arrived at a policy consensus that would balance the relative risks posed by various tobacco products. That consensus was driven by shared goals – to reduce the number of Americans who smoke cigarettes and move them down the “continuum of risk” away from combustible tobacco and toward less risky alternatives especially vaping and other non-combustible nicotine products. The most recent government data that tracks progress in this regard is unfortunately telling us that FDA policies are risking the lives of many Americans – especially older Americans who are most at risk from continuing this deadly habit.

In August of 2021, the 15 past presidents of the staunchly anti-tobacco Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco published a groundbreaking essay in the American Journal of Public Health. In it, they encouraged a more balanced consideration of vaping and other alternative nicotine products within public health and in the media and policy circles. While acknowledging that vaping is not free from risks, they demonstrated that it is substantially less harmful than cigarette smoking. Furthermore, they highlighted emerging evidence showing that vaping can increase smoking cessation and is likely more effective than FDA-approved nicotine replacement products like gum and patches. 

Two years later, the FDA echoed some of those same observations and recommendations. In an August 2023 commentary published in the online journal Addiction and authored by Brian King, the current head of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), King highlighted that many adults were misinformed about the relative risks of various tobacco products and that misunderstanding was a barrier to moving smokers down the continuum of risk toward safer, non-combustible tobacco products. And yet, the CTP during his tenure  has  authorized a mere handful of non-combustible nicotine products. Instead, CTP has authorized thousands of new combustible tobacco products. As a result, millions of Americans continue to smoke and die from tobacco related disease.

American Smoking Deaths Under the Califf/King FDA

Since February 17, 2022

830,000,000

For an agency that spends a great deal of time talking about saving lives, by every empirical measure, they are objectively failing:

  • During the period that Brian King and FDA Chief Robert Califf have been in charge of tobacco policy for the country, FDA has authorized more than 1,500 new cigarettes and more than 11,000 combustible tobacco products
  • According to the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), past 30-day cigarette use among 12th graders, INCREASED from 5.7% to 7.5%
  • The independent Reagan-Udall Foundation criticized the FDA for putting politics over science and ignoring emerging evidence that confirms that flavor bans and other prohibitions on non-combustible nicotine products actually increase cigarettes sales
  • FDA’s own tobacco enforcement statistics confirm that smoking remains a problem and that youth smoking violations are higher than youth vaping

Scientists are now starting to sound the alarm and are warning that we have reached a tipping point where FDA’s broad opposition to flavored non-combustible tobacco products over the last four years will create enormous public health consequences in the future for many Americans. 

Dr. Nancy Rigotti, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine, has sounded the alarm after publishing a editorial stating that we have reached “the tipping point” where policymakers can no longer willfully ignore evidence and use their regulatory authority to undermine e-cigarettes. 

“It is now time for the medical community to acknowledge this progress and add e-cigarettes to the smoking cessation toolkit… U.S. public health agencies and professional medical societies should reconsider their cautious positions on e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. The evidence has brought e-cigarettes to the tipping point. The burden of tobacco-related disease is too big for potential solutions such as e-cigarettes to be ignored.”

FDA now finds itself in the awkward position of being a health agency that is facilitating the sale of cigarettes thereby undermining its own mission to reduce the incidence of smoking related disease and death. FDA’s policies are keeping more effective (and safer) alternatives to cigarettes away from consumers and are in turn propping up the sales and profits of big tobacco companies. Without a course correction that truthfully portrays the risks and benefits of various nicotine products, millions of Americans will needlessly suffer from illness and death.

VTA Response to CTP 5 Year Strategic Plan

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The Vapor Technology Association has reviewed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) five-year strategic plan. In short, VTA is deeply disappointed with the plan’s lack of substance and absence of specifics to move American smokers off of combustible products towards effective harm-reduction nicotine options.

In October, at the Food & Drug Law Insitute’s Tobacco and Nicotine Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., VTA called on FDA to make harm reduction the “north star” of the strategic plan. The plan that has now been released lacks any commitment, much less a clear roadmap, to aggressively move people who smoke towards non-combustible forms of nicotine. It speaks vaguely about the importance of health equity and insists that a primary focus of CTP remains on reducing tobacco-related death and disease – but provides no insight, details, or specific methods by which CTP will achieve this. Nor does it acknowledge the latest science in support of e-cigarettes as the most effective non-combustible option for smoking cessation.

Most concerning is that CTP’s strategic plan fails to even attempt to address the Reagan Udall Foundation’s (RUF) central and most damning criticisms that go to the core of CTP’s job:

  1. that CTP has not clearly met the most basic elements of its tobacco and nicotine regulatory program by defining what is required of applicants under the “Appropriate for the Protection of the Public Health” (APPH) standard in the Tobacco Control Act, and
  2. that CTP has not clearly explained how it is assessing the science to determine what is APPH.

The silence of CTP’s strategic plan on these issues is defeaning. By failing to address these core criticisms, CTP’s five-year strategic plan will continue to generate misinformation, inefficiency, litigation, and suspicions of political interference.

VTA has repeatedly called on CTP to speak immediately, loudly, and repeatedly to adults about tobacco harm reduction in order to start saving lives now. Instead, CTP mentions the notion of conducting “foundational” and “formative” research on whether it might speak to adults – at some unknown time in the future – about harm reduction and less harmful vaping and other nicotine alternatives. Meanwhile, 480,000 people die prematurely every year from cigarette smoking.

The release of CTP’s five-year strategic plan, which took a full year to construct, was an opportunity to demonstrate bold, not bureaucratic, leadership on tobacco harm reduction that could close the deadly chapter of cigarettes in America. Instead, what the American public was given is document that reflected little more than a commitment to bureaucracy without any real direction or goals, much less a strategy to achieve those goals. Only 15 of the 27 pages of government pabulum (littered with pictures, graphics, and process tables) could actually be considered a recitation of the “plan” but, in total, it revealed nothing more than a “check the box” exercise (which failed to even check the most important boxes).

The strategic plan was a huge missed opportunity for the bureacracts to stand up for science and tobacco harm reduction, and stand up for the millions of smokers in vulnerable Black, LGBTQ+, and low income popluations who would benefit the most from a plan that actually kickstarted the important work of improving and saving lives and reducing or eliminating smoking related diseases. Instead, CTP demonstrated that its hands are firmly gripped upon a wheel that it is refusing to turn as it careens off a public health cliff with the lives of American smokers in tow.

NYTS 2023 – VTA Calls on FDA to Approve Flavored E-Cigarettes for Adult Tobacco Harm Reduction After Another Massive Drop in 2023 Youth Vaping Rate

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WASHINGTON – November 2, 2023 – The Vapor Technology Association (VTA) today called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) to immediately start communicating with adult smokers about the scientifically proven harm reduction and smoking cessation benefits of e-cigarettes and start approving a wide variety of e-cigarettes, including flavored products. Study after study has shown that flavored e-cigarettes are proven to be the most effective products available on the market to help adults reduce their use of combustible tobacco or quit altogether. 

The call from VTA comes after newly released 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the U.S. youth vaping rate dropped another 4 percentage points from 2022 and now sits at 10% – the lowest level in more than a decade even amid broad availability of flavored vapes in the market. 

According to CDC data from 2019 and 2023, the youth vaping rate in the U.S. plunged a massive 61% since it peaked in 2019. 

“While last year’s dramatically reduced youth vaping figure justified the CTP’s decision to stop referring to youth vaping as an ‘epidemic,’ this latest 2023 NYTS data validates CTP’s decision,” said Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA). “It is now clear that any claim about a persistent youth vaping epidemic in the U.S. can only be considered anti-scientific.” 

The youth vaping rate has fallen to a 10-year low despite the continued availability of flavored nicotine vaping products. This fact fundamentally rejects the misinformation refrain spread by regulators and activists that flavors drive youth vaping. 

Year after year, the CDC NYTS survey has revealed that flavors are not even one of the top six reasons youth vape, with a mere 6.4% of youth citing flavors as the reason they vape in the CDC NYTS 2022 survey. However, the CDC did not disclose the answer to this question in this year’s survey and instead chose to fill its report with a variety of details related to youth use that have nothing to do with why they vape – a critical part of past surveys.

“Because youth vaping continues to plummet despite the wide availability of flavored products, and because flavored e-cigarettes have been proven to help adult smokers quit, it’s time for the FDA to acknowledge and promote their benefits for adult smokers,” continued Abboud. “This year’s NYTS data is a clear sign that FDA actions, which have been myopically focused on denigrating flavored e-cigarettes to ‘protect youth’ are dangerous and misinformed.”

“In light of these latest findings, VTA renews the call it made at last week’s Food and Drug Law Institute Tobacco & Nicotine Policy conference for CTP to acknowledge the dramatically reduced youth vaping rate – now even lower – and immediately start educating adult smokers about the fact that vaping is dramatically safer than smoking and encourage smokers to use or even try e-cigarettes if they can’t quit if they can’t quit another way,” said Abboud.

VTA also encourages regulators to work with it and finally adopt the series of marketing reforms and youth access restrictions that will further drive down youth vaping while ensuring that a wide variety of flavored vaping products remain available and accessible to adult smokers through adult-only stores.

FDA’s policies are leaving behind American smokers. Smokers are increasingly over-represented in marginalized black, low-income, low-education, and LGBTQ+ communities and continue to die at unacceptable rates. These communities deserve to hear the truth about how to lower their risk and improve their chances of quitting smoking. According to a recent report from the Center for Black Equity, the “broad approval of flavored vaping products will save Black and LGBTQ+ lives, reduce smoking, and drive meaningful progress in lowering preventable cancer rates.”

“Americans need real solutions and information, not bureaucratic posturing around big data,” concluded Abboud. “Every year the FDA remains wedded to its prohibition mentality and keeps the public in the dark about the benefits of flavored e-cigarettes, millions of Americans will continue to smoke, suffer, and die.”

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About VTA

The Vapor Technology Association is the U.S. industry trade association whose members are dedicated to sound science-based regulation and selling innovative high-quality vapor products that provide adult smokers with a better alternative to combustible cigarettes. VTA represents the industry-leading manufacturers of vapor devices, e-liquids, and flavorings, as well as the distributors and retailers, including hardworking American mom-and-pop brick-and-mortar retail store owners.

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