Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) reprimanded the Justice Department and the Food and Drug Administration over a “lack of urgency” in efforts to thwart the flood of thousands of illegal e-cigarettes on the market.
Noting how millions of children have used addictive e-cigarettes, Durbin urged the DOJ and the FDA to ratchet up coordination efforts and slammed the FDA for “refusing to enforce the law and take action against companies marketing illegal vaping products to children.” He also demanded answers to a multitude of questions by April 7.
“I write to express my concern that the Biden Administration has not taken more aggressive enforcement action to stop thousands of illegal e-cigarettes from flooding the market and addicting children. I urge you to enhance interagency coordination to address unlawfully marketed vaping products,” Durbin wrote in a message to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.
Under the Tobacco Control Act, the FDA is tasked with regulating tobacco and e-cigarettes, and the Justice Department is responsible for working to enforce those rules. Durbin noted that “there are more than six e-cigarette manufacturers selling without authorization on the market today.”
The TCA stipulates that new e-cigarettes must first show the FDA that the product is “appropriate for the protection of public health.”
FDA officials have worked to adjudicate 99% of the 26 million applications the agency has received, according to Durbin. The problem arises when the agency “fails to police the market and permits even those rejected vaping products to continue to be sold,” he said.
“Every single day in America, children pick up vaping with unauthorized products that are on store shelves only because FDA has seemingly granted these illegal e-cigarettes a free pass,” the senator said.
His letter cited a December 2022 report from the independent Reagan-Udall Foundation that concluded the FDA “has not been transparent regarding the reasons it has failed to clear the market of illegal products.”
The document also indicated that “the current process of bringing enforcement actions is cumbersome, and ultimate decisions on whether to take enforcement action rest with DOJ rather than FDA.”
Following the independent review, the FDA announced plans to convene a summit over tobacco enforcement, a move that Durbin applauded.
“I commend FDA’s announcement of its intention to convene a summit with DOJ related to tobacco enforcement. It was long overdue. It is important that DOJ and FDA improve collaboration to address the barriers to enforcement that jeopardize public health, especially as it relates to our children,” the Illinois Democrat said.
Ryan King – Washington Examiner – 2023-03-16.
Want More Investigative Content?
