On June 22nd, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a press release on its official website, announcing that it has sent warning letters to 189 retailers, demanding them to cease the sale of unauthorized tobacco products, particularly ELFBAR and Esco Bars. These two brands are disposable e-cigarettes that are popular among young people, featuring flavors like bubble gum and marshmallow.
According to the FDA's press release, these warning letters are the result of recent surprise inspections conducted by the FDA on retailers nationwide, aiming to combat the sale of unauthorized e-cigarettes. The FDA has been actively monitoring the market and taking action when emerging market data raises concerns about their appeal and risks to young people. Through ongoing monitoring efforts, the agency has identified ELFBAR and Esco Bars as one of the most popular brands in the United States, highly appealing to young individuals.
The FDA stated that concurrently, two studies in the weekly incidence and mortality reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) further underscored concerns about the risks associated with ELFBAR products. One study assessed e-cigarette sales, which are closely linked to patterns of use among adolescents. The study found that ELFBAR was the most popular disposable e-cigarette brand sold in the United States in December 2022. This study's findings align with the latest findings from the International Tobacco Control Survey, which identified ELFBAR as the most popular disposable e-cigarette brand among 16-19-year-olds in the United States as of August 2022.
In response to this, IMiracle issued a statement.
IMiracle Calls Out FDA for ‘Coordinated Campaign of Misinformation and Fear’ in
Response to Agency’s Latest Vaping Announcement
June 22, 2023 – IMiracle Shenzhen Technology Co. Ltd. today issued the following statement in response to the FDA’s announced inspection blitz of vaping retailers:
“Today’s announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the latest attack in the agency’s coordinated campaign to sow misinformation and fear around vaping in the United States. It is nothing short of a deception designed to spread panic about the use of vaping products, particularly those made by IMiracle.
“Bullying smalltown mom-and-pop retailers into regulatory submission is the strategy that the Biden administration has chosen with this latest announcement. The administration’s promise to protect black, LGBTQ, and low-income communities, whose adult members smoke cigarettes at disproportionately high rates is apparently no longer a concern of President Joe Biden or his FDA.
It is unsurprising that the FDA chose to coordinate its ‘blitz’ and announcement with the release of two U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studies, one of which was conducted together with the Truth Initiative, funded by Mike Bloomberg. The CDC choosing to partner with this special interest group on any investigation of nicotine and tobacco use is like the EPA partnering on an environmental study with Greenpeace and expecting the public to take its results seriously.
The inaccuracies and misstatements across the FDA announcement, the two CDC studies, and the corresponding mainstream media coverage are too numerous to detail. What must be stated, however, is the FDA’s crystal-clear desire to eliminate all vaping products from the U.S. marketplace – except, perhaps, those owned and manufactured by its longtime friend, Big Tobacco.
The FDA’s nationwide ‘blitz’ targeted only two products – and failed to target those products owned by Big Tobacco, such as Vuse, NJOY and JUUL, which were on the CDC list of top five sellers and which were also cited among the top five products used by youth in the latest National Youth Tobacco Survey.
In keeping with previous decisions and announcements, this latest FDA action willfully ignores the latest science on e-cigarette use and continues to prevent U.S. adults from accessing an entire category of nicotine products that FDA knows are significantly safer than traditional cigarettes.
As IMiracle has previously stated, it is the responsibility of every company to stand behind its customers. IMiracle has worked hard to build trusted brands and a loyal adult customer base and will continue to stand by its retail customers and its adult consumers in fighting back against this regulatory action. IMiracle calls on its fellow industry members to do the same.”
This statement is attributable to an IMiracle spokesperson.
