As part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) broader strategy to combat the crisis of youth vaping, the agency is launching an initiative to increase voluntary compliance from retailers—including vape shops, convenience stores and gas stations—that play a key role in the distribution of both legal and illegal products into American communities.

Too often, retailers in communities are selling illegal vaping products marketed to young people with fruit or candy flavors and even marketing gimmicks such as built-in video games and Bluetooth speakers. The FDA has not authorized any such products, which are mainly illegally imported from China. As much as 54% of vaping products sold nationally are illegal. These products frequently contain chemicals such as formaldehyde, lead and acrolein—materials more commonly found in industrial textiles and pesticides.

The FDA has received questions from retailers about which tobacco products are legal to sell, so the agency is mailing materials to more than 300,000 retailers nationwide containing:

• A list of the 39 vapes and 20 nicotine pouch products that can be legally marketed in the United States, which features QR codes linked to the FDA real-time digital versions of these lists - www.fda.gov/authorizedecigs and www.fda.gov/authorizednicotinepouches;
• Information on accessing FDA’s new Searchable Tobacco Product Database, a database of over 17,000 tobacco products—covering all categories, such as cigarettes, cigars, hookah, and e-cigarettes—that may be legally marketed in the United States; and
• New tobacco retailer education materials, including a wall calendar of reminders focused on retailer requirements such as only selling tobacco products to those 21 and older and requiring a photo ID check of anyone under 30.

Read more here.