Smokers deserve better than a bureaucracy that mistakes prohibition for public health.
Over the past decade, the FDA has poured its energy into policing flavored vapes while leaving smokers with fewer, less appealing alternatives to cigarettes. The result is predictable: a thriving gray market and a regulatory moat that protects the cigarette market that vaping was meant to disrupt. If the goal is fewer smoking deaths, the path is clear: regulate for safety and quality, but stop blocking the smoking cessation tools smokers use.
Flavored vapes are the tool many smokers use to quit cigarettes. That shouldn’t be surprising — while not harmless, vaping has been shown to be far less harmful than smoking. The National Institutes of Health has concluded that vapes expose users to lower levels of toxins than cigarettes, and the Royal College of Physicians in the United Kingdom estimates their health risks are “unlikely to exceed 5 percent of the harm from smoking tobacco.”
Yet, the FDA refuses to acknowledge its role in the problem. It has rejected all flavored vapes — products that help smokers quit — choosing to fight the market instead of reviewing and authorizing products that meet safety standards.
Prohibition doesn’t change consumer preferences; it drives consumers to riskier, unregulated products. Even the FDA acknowledges that more than half of all vapes sold in the United States are flavored products that it has not approved. The FDA’s crackdown benefits black-market dealers while putting Americans’ health at greater risk.
If the agency is concerned about potentially dangerous chemicals, it can address that through transparent product reviews — informing patients and retailers which products meet safety standards. Blanket bans give consumers no safety information.
Yet, the FDA is still cracking down on flavored vapes instead of helping smokers quit.
The justification for these bans is typically youth nicotine use. The intent is good, but the data doesn’t support the claim. Teen nicotine use has been falling for decades, and vaping rates among youth peaked in 2019 and have since declined. The supposed “epidemic” was largely a shift from cigarettes to vapes — while overall youth nicotine use continued to drop.
Meanwhile, the FDA’s refusal to authorize flavored harm reduction products has left only four companies approved to sell vapes in the United States, only 39 FDA approved products. From 2018 to 2022, the FDA approved nearly 900 additional cigarettes — bringing the total to 3,910. There are 100 times more approved cigarettes than reduced-risk vapes.
The agency’s standard — whether a product is “appropriate for the protection of public health” — demands comparing real-world risks and benefits. The FDA keeps denying or delaying vape products that dramatically reduce exposure to toxic chemicals, even as cigarettes remain available on every corner.
The FDA’s decisions shape what’s available nationwide. States often mirror federal authorizations because they don’t have the resources to test products. Wisconsin, for instance, now bans any vape not authorized by the FDA — cutting off smokers from products that could help them quit.
Prohibition doesn’t work; it fuels more unregulated products. The FDA should stop fighting adult consumers and smokers trying to quit. Instead, it should work with them to ensure the products they use are safe. The FDA cannot regulate away consumer preferences or the markets that follow them.