FDA to ask Supreme Court to uphold ban on sweet, flavored vapes

WASHINGTON — Vaping is coming before the Supreme Court next week as federal regulators ask the high court to uphold its block on sweet, flavored products following a spike in youth e-cigarette use.The Food and Drug Administration has denied more than a million marketing applications for candy- or fruit-flavored products that appeal to kids, part of a wider crackdown that advocates say helped drive down teen vaping after an “epidemic level” surge in 2019.Vaping companies, though, said the agency unfairly disregarded arguments that their sweet e-liquid products would help adults quit smoking traditional cigarettes without putting kids at greater risk.Republican Donald Trump’s administration could take a different approach after he vowed in a September social-media post to “save” vaping.The Supreme Court on Monday is hearing arguments in the FDA’s appeal of a decision from the conservative 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals.While other courts upheld FDA refusals, the appeals court sided with the Dallas-based company Triton Distribution.It tossed out a decision blocking the marketing of nicotine-laced liquids like “Jimmy The Juice Man in Peachy Strawberry” that are heated by an e-cigarette to create an inhalable aerosol.Triton said the FDA had unfairly changed its requirements without enough warning.“It sort of pulls the chair out from the applicants,” said Marc Scheineson, a former FDA associate commissioner and attorney who now represents other small electronic tobacco companies.Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today's top stories Please provide a valid email address.

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The FDA was slow to regulate the now multibillion-dollar vaping market, and even years into the crackdown flavored vapes that are technically illegal nevertheless remain widely available.The agency has approv...