California Study Finds E-Cigarette Legislation Ambiguity Leads to Inadequate Online Sales Regulation

Researchers at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego found that online e-cigarette retailers are failing to comply with laws preventing the sale of e-cigarette products to minors, including age verification, delivery methods, and flavor restrictions, according to a report by Mirage News on November 12. 

The study was published on November 11, 2024 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It involved 16 participants in San Diego County who were asked to purchase flavored e-cigarette products online and have them delivered to their homes, with the results of these purchase attempts analyzed. Out of 156 attempted transactions, 73% were successfully processed and 67% were successfully delivered.

As of March 21, 2024, eight states in the United States have implemented restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco products, along with 392 cities or counties. However, some of these restrictions do not apply to e-commerce. For example, California Senate Bill 793 (SB-793) passed in 2022 bans the sale of flavored tobacco products, but the restrictions on e-commerce are not clearly defined.

Due to the ambiguity of California law, researchers aimed to test the differences in enforcement of local tobacco e-commerce regulations. Eight buyers were from the city of San Diego, which has an ordinance restricting the sale of flavored tobacco products, including online sales. Another eight buyers were from other communities in San Diego County without the same restrictions. The results showed no significant differences in the delivery of purchases between buyers in these two areas.

Purchasing e-cigarettes online not only violates flavor restrictions, but also violates the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act, a federal law prohibiting the use of the United States Postal Service (USPS) to ship e-cigarette products and requires age verification and ID scanning upon delivery.

"There are longstanding surveillance systems in place that help implement laws at brick-and-mortar stores, but we do not have a system in place for online retailers," said Eric Leas, Ph.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science . 

"Online sales of e-cigarettes are the largest and fastest growing sector of the tobacco. We need to evaluate tobacco retail policies and ensure they cover e-commerce and monitor the market to improve implementation," said Leas.

Key findings include:

• 1% of buyers had their IDs scanned
• 81% of deliveries were made via the USPS
• 9% arrived via couriers with policies restricting shipping tobacco, including: 4.0% via UPS, 3.0% via FedEx 3.0% and 1.8% via DHL
• 78% of buyers reported no interaction with delivery personnel
• 15% of buyers spoke with delivery personnel but did not have their IDs checked
• 6% of buyers had their IDs checked but not scanned

In a study published by Lee in the journal Tobacco Control in 2023, it was reported that since the implementation of SB-793, online searches for cigarettes have increased by 194% and searches for e-cigarette products have increased by 162% compared to expectations.

To enhance the regulation of tobacco products, including those sold online, California legislators recently passed SB-1230 and cited findings from Lisa's "Tobacco Control" research. This law will take effect on January 1, 2025.