US
Altria announced in late October that it will remove certain vaping products from the market amid concerns they may appeal to underage smokers.
In a letter to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Howard Willard, Altria’s c.e.o., said the company will stop selling two types of e-cigarettes that use “pods” of flavored nicotine liquid for refills. “We will remove from the market MarkTen Elite and Apex by MarkTen pod-based products until we receive a market order from FDA or the youth issue is otherwise addressed,” he said.
According to Willard, Altria will maintain the sale of its other e-cigarettes but would no longer sell other fruit and candy-flavored nicotine, which critics of e-cigarettes say appeal to youths and may help get them hooked on nicotine.
“We believe underage use of e-vapor products is further compounded by flavors in these products that go beyond traditional tobacco flavors,” he said. “While we do not believe we currently have a youth issue associated with our cig-a-like products or their flavors, we again do not want to risk contributing to the issue.”
Willard also said he would support raising the federal age to 21 for anyone who wants to purchase e-cigarettes.