Protecting Kids, Respecting Adults
Only adults should be able to access vapes and other nicotine products. VTA has developed and continues to advocate for a comprehensive, common-sense approach to preventing kids from accessing these products, while respecting adults’ freedom to vape.
Our History
VTA has long advocated for youth marketing and access restrictions. At the landmark 2019 White House Meeting involving all stakeholders, VTA’s Executive Director, Tony Abboud, championed raising the age to buy all tobacco products to 21 in lieu of the proposed total flavor ban. After President Trump decided to do just that, the youth vaping rate plummeted to a 12-year low and now sits at just 5.2%.
Youth Vaping in Context
In 2026, the youth vaping rate sits at its lowest level in 12 years – a time before vaping products were even regulated. In fact, youth vaping has fallen 74% since peaking in 2019 — a dramatic reversal driven by President Trump’s decision to raise the tobacco purchase age to 21. Notably, this dramatic success occurred even though flavored open system and disposable vapes were exempted from the FDA’s partial flavor ban. In fact, this decline in youth use coincided with the increased availability of flavored disposable vapes on the market, demonstrating adults’ clear preference for these products.
This real world evidence demonstrates that flavors cannot be blamed for youth use since use continues to plummet. Now that youth vaping is essentially disappearing, regulators must make sure that flavored vapes remain widely accessible to adults, as they are a scientifically proven harm reduction tool for smokers. Common-sense, science-driven solutions that VTA has pioneered will protect adult access to flavored nicotine products while driving youth vaping rates even lower.
Our Plan
VTA’s plan is rooted in four pillars: device restrictions, marketing restrictions, access restrictions, and enhanced enforcement.
Device Restrictions:
- Restrict and remove devices that are obviously targeted at youth.
- Devices with video games, Bluetooth, and phone app features.
- Devices designed to look like USB drives, school supplies, highlighters, juice drinks, or other products traditionally used by minors.
Responsible Online Retail:
- Require the use of independent third-party age verification software for online sales
- Prevent online sales on websites based outside the U.S., on third-party marketplaces.
- End “Straw Man” sellers.
- Restrict the sale of more than 2 devices or 5 packages/bottles of e-liquids in any one consumer transaction.
- Make it illegal for any person who is not a licensed tobacco product dealer to sell, barter for, or exchange any tobacco product.
Responsible Marketing:
- Restrict marketing of vape products by barring
- Use of superhero or celebrity images.
- Use of cartoon imagery typically associated with youth.
- Use of trademarks or trade dress mimicking other youth products (i.e., Frooty Loops, Cap’n Crunch, Skittlz, etc.).
- Use of video game, movie, and/or other copyrighted or trademarked properties.
- Restrict advertising on TV, radio, or online media, or at live events that do not have an audience demographic of more than 85% adults.
Responsible Brick & Mortar Retail:
- Prevent online sales on websites based outside the U.S., on third-party marketplaces.
- End “Straw Man” sellers.
- Restrict the sale of more than 2 devices or 5 packages/bottles of e-liquids in any one consumer transaction.
- Make it illegal for any person who is not a licensed tobacco product dealer to sell, barter for, or exchange any tobacco product.
Enhanced Enforcement:
- Enhance penalties for retailers selling to underage individuals.
- Impose a 3-in-3-year penalty of losing tobacco sales
- Incorporate these restrictions into the FDA’s expectations for proposed PMTA marketing plans.
Device Access Restrictions
VTA opposes Device Access Restrictions (DAR) which is nothing but a solution in search of a problem. Here’s why:
The FDA has not explained why extreme locking technology is necessary for ENDS products, particularly when youth vaping has dramatically declined and comparable youth-restricted products – such as alcohol, cannabis, hemp, menthol cigarettes, and flavored cigars – are not subject to similar access-locking requirements.
The DAR framework is vague, inconsistent, and commercially unworkable. The FDA has not explained what additional policies must be implemented to justify these unprecedented requirements. The lack of clarity leaves manufacturers unable to make rational investment decisions and adds another regulatory hurdle.
DAR would burden adult smokers, raise costs, and favor large companies. Smartphone-based or biometric systems will only discourage older and less technologically sophisticated Americans, and those who smoke the most – lower income Americans who may not use smartphones – from switching to less harmful products. It would also impose major engineering, compliance, and infrastructure costs – accelerating market concentration and reducing innovation.
