FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a bipartisan coalition of 19 attorneys general urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to abandon draft guidance that would ease approvals for flavored e-cigarette products, widely understood to disproportionately worsen youth addiction.
Federal law requires that all e-cigarette products receive authorization from the FDA before they can be legally marketed or sold in the United States. To date, the FDA has authorized only 45 e-cigarette products. Until May 5, 2026, the FDA had approved no flavors other than tobacco or menthol. However, just six days before today’s comment deadline, the FDA approved two fruit flavored products. Despite the limited authorization currently in place, hundreds of thousands of e-cigarette varieties in multitudes of flavors are currently available for purchase in flagrant violation of state and federal laws. Compounding their previous failures, on May 8, the FDA issued a press release announcing it would not prioritize enforcement against vapes and nicotine pouches marketed without necessary FDA authorization.
Two months ago, on March 11, the FDA released draft guidance that would ignore years of evidence and ease the path to approval for certain flavored products. The guidance opines, ignoring the FDA’s own science and history, that certain flavors such as coffees, tea, spices, menthol, and mint are “lower risk” flavors for youth addiction. In reality, extensive research shows that flavored products of all kinds are favored by youth over unflavored tobacco.
In their letter, the attorneys general urge the FDA to reconsider the draft guidance and to continue its careful scrutiny of all flavors to protect public health.
Attorneys general have long been at the forefront of efforts to curb youth addiction. In 1998, attorneys general from 52 states and territories, including Maryland, reached a settlement with the four largest tobacco companies, settling suits filed by dozens of states and imposing strong new restrictions on tobacco advertising and marketing practices, including prohibitions on billboards, cartoons, branded merchandise, and sports sponsorships. The companies were forced to eliminate practices that obscured tobacco’s health risks and were required to establish and fund the Truth Initiative, an advocacy organization dedicated to “achieving a culture where all youth and young adults reject tobacco.” The settlement directs payments to the states and territories in perpetuity so long as cigarettes are sold by tobacco companies participating in the agreement.
In 2022, Maryland joined 33 states and territories in reaching a $434.9 million agreement with JUUL Labs, resolving a bipartisan investigation into the e-cigarette manufacturer’s marketing and sales practices. In addition to the financial terms, the settlement forced JUUL to comply with a series of strict injunctive terms severely limiting their marketing and sales practices.
Joining Attorney General Brown in the letter are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
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