(Column) Keeping vape products out of the hands of Alabama youth

Sen. Garlan Gudger, Jr.

When he was a candidate for President of the United States in 2019, Joe Biden dismissed the Chinese economic threat to the U.S. “C’mon, man,” he scoffed in his trademark tone. “I mean, you know, they’re not bad folks.” Then, earlier this year, Biden sat idly by as a mysterious Chinese surveillance balloon hovered over the U.S. for a full week before finally ordering it to be shot down.

It’s plain to see that Biden does not understand the Chinese threat and that his administration is befuddled as to how to confront it.

Perhaps the clearest example of this appears on the shelves of smoke shops and independent retailers across Alabama. Countless new brands of flavored, disposables are sold daily. They’re clearly marketed toward younger consumers — even minors — with candy flavors and bright packaging. These products are supposed to be illegal. Yet there they are, everywhere you turn.

And the vast majority of them are coming from China.

According to the Associated Press, the enormous growth in vaping products throughout the United States over the past 3 years consists almost entirely of Chinese illicit, flavored electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). These are the same kinds of products that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ostentatiously banned in 2020 claiming, “companies that do not cease manufacture, distribution and sale of unauthorized flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes (other than tobacco or menthol) within 30 days risk FDA enforcement actions.”

So why are they still omnipresent? That’s because the FDA’s crackdown on these ENDS products appears not to have extended past the press release announcing the new policy. Enforcement has been lax; barely more than a couple hundred warning letters to companies that still market and sell these illicit products. It’s a classic example of the federal government patting itself on the back for “doing something,” but producing no results.

I have championed efforts here in Alabama to get vape products out of the hands of our youth by working to enact the first in the nation product directory, forbidding retailers to sell products not found in the directory. I have sponsored legislation to make it illegal for youth under 21 to purchase vape products.

Fortunately, Congress has begun to step up its oversight of the FDA’s tobacco control policies. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer recently highlighted the FDA’s failures, which, he says, have resulted in “industry uncertainty and unsafe products reaching the marketplace.”

“If products are allowed to go to market or stay on the market without authorized applications, then the entire regulatory effort would appear to be pointless,” Comer adds.

Comer is calling for more accountability at the FDA. Alabama’s own Rep. Gary Palmer, who also serves on the House Oversight Committee, should join forces with him.

The situation is growing dire. According to the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey, more than half (55.3%) of past 30-day underage people using ENDS products reported using disposable products. According to Reuters, “consumers spent more than $2 billion on the new generation of disposable ecigarettes over the past year.” In other words, mostly on those illicit and unregulated, Chinese-made, fruity-flavored, disposable vapes.

Rep. Palmer understands the threat from China and should call for increased oversight of the FDA to solve this important issue.

Garlan Gudger represents the 4th district in the Alabama Senate.

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