The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday allowed the marketing of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes in a first authorization of non-tobacco-flavored vaping products, amid mounting political pressure on the agency.
The authorized pods from Los Angeles-based Glas Inc., a small vape maker that uses technology to age-gate its devices, include flavors such as Classic Menthol, Fresh Menthol, Gold and Sapphire, the FDA said.
“The FDA’s rigorous, scientific review of these products found that the applicant sufficiently demonstrated that Glas’s device access restriction technology, combined with FDA-required marketing restrictions, is expected to effectively mitigate the ability of youth to use the product,” the regulator said.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump rebuked FDA Commissioner Marty Makary over the weekend for not moving quickly enough to approve flavored vapes and nicotine products.
U.S. regulators avoided granting licenses to flavored vapes, and the FDA said it would continue to require a heavy burden of evidence of benefits to smokers for vape flavors that appeal to youth.
Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!
Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
