Coalition of Attorneys General Calls on FDA to More Effectively Regulate Tobacco Products

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Thirty-one state attorneys general are pushing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to exercise its regulatory authority to eliminate youth-appealing flavors, limit nicotine levels, and restrict marketing of new tobacco products.

The plea comes as the agency is reviewing thousands of Premarket Tobacco Product Applications for newly deemed tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes and vapor products.

"Over the past decade, we've seen hundreds of companies skirt the regulatory process in order to cash in on the boom in e-cigarettes and oral nicotine products like nicotine pouches," said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. "The fact is: these products were not reviewed by the FDA and should not be on the market. As it now considers whether to allow these products to continue to be sold, the FDA must condition approval on limiting the amount of nicotine in these products and ending youth marketing — and it must prevent the sale of new flavored tobacco products entirely. Our children's lives may literally depend on it."

In the Aug. 18 comment letter, the coalition urged the FDA to prohibit all flavors, including menthol, in e-cigarettes and other new nicotine-containing products. The coalition also called on the agency to limit the amount of nicotine in these products.

In addition, the coalition pushed the FDA to impose restrictions on the marketing and advertising of these new tobacco products. 

To read the full letter, click here.

Attorney General Bonta joined the attorneys general of Idaho, Illinois, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Guam, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C. in filing the comment letter.