With the recent uptick in stories about young people falling ill and dying from the effects of E-Cigarettes, the Federal Trade Commission has ordered that six e-cigarette makers furnish four years of their data on sales, advertising, and promotions of these products.
According to a recent Law 360 article, the FTC joined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May 2018 in sending more than a dozen warning letters to e-cigarette companies that used kid-friendly packaging and advertising.
This is the first the FTC has been involved, sending orders to Juul Labs Inc (JUUL), R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (Vuse), Fontem U.S. Inc. (Blu), Logic Technology Department LLC (Logic), Nu Mark LLC (MarkTen and Green Smoke), and NJOY LLC (NJOY).
Juul has been getting more heat than most companies, and have agreed to cooperate, while their co-founder stepped down after reporting of a criminal probe into the company.
The Law 360 article also states the orders demand detailed data on sales and giveaways of e-cigarette products, information about their chemical composition and flavorings, annual amounts spent on advertising and promotion and information about the companies' product placement, influencer marketing, and social media activities.
It also appears that the Trump administration is preparing a nationwide ban on flavored vaping products. So far New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island have placed a ban on non-tobacco flavors. Illinois and Connecticut are also contemplating these restrictions.
With more than 1000 reported illnesses, and 18 deaths, regulations of e-cigarettes are certainly on the cusp of some mammoth changes.
