Warning that teenage use of electronic cigarettes has reached “an epidemic proportion,” the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday gave Juul Labs and four other makers of popular vaping devices 60 days to prove they can keep them away from minors. The order was part of a sweeping action that targeted both makers and sellers of e-cigarettes. commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a briefing that the agency would look closely at the manufacturers’ own internet storefronts. He flagged what he called “straw purchases” — bulk orders of the devices, which buyers in turn used to sell to minors. “If the companies don’t know, or if they don’t want to know,” he said, that such purchases are underway, “we’ll now be helping to identify it for them.”

Source: New York Times September 12, 2018 13:30 UTC