The war on vaping and the attacks on small vape shops merely trying to keep their customers smoke free has taken a shocking turn as the FDA enlists help from the DOJ to go after 6 small vape shops. 

The Biden administration is suing six shops after the companies ignored warning about their illegal products. The agency announced a joint press release with the DOJ this past Tuesday, October 18o 2022.

Per the FDA “each of these defendants failed to submit premarket applications for their e-cigarettes and have continued to illegally manufacture, sell and distribute their products, despite the previous warning from the FDA that they were in violation of the law.”

For the first time the US government is asking the courts to permanently block these companies from manufacturing and selling their own vapor products. 

These companies are small vapor shops, they do not represent any major companies here in the US that produce and sell these products. 

In a response from Amanda Wheeler, President of AVM she states “Mr. King seems delighted to kick in the doors of small businesses but turns a blind eye to the millions of Americans who rely on nicotine vaping to quit cigarettes,” she goes on to add “When you are a prohibitionist with an axe, everything looks like a beer barrel.”

Unfortunately with this kind of legal action taking place the only thing left for these shops to do is to shut down. This will cause these customers that depend on these products to be left out in the cold with cigarettes still readily available in each convenience and gas station in these areas.  

While the FDA thinks they are taking this action to “protect kids” or even to “protect the public” we know all too well that these steps only harm adult consumers. And while these companies may have been selling these products illegally, we know the intention of these small shops was to only put the public health of their customers over the blatant disregard for harm reduction that the FDA has shown over the past few years.