The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that health authorities acted properly when they blocked e-cigarette companies from marketing fruit- and dessert-flavored flavors.
The court’s six conservative and three liberal judges upheld the Food and Drug Administration’s argument that these products could be addictive for young people who like sweet flavors in vaping devices.
Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered gadgets that produce an inhalable vapor by heating a nicotine-laden liquid.
Unlike tobacco, they do not contain cancer-causing tar or carbon monoxide. But the World Health Organization and anti-smoking advocates refuse to consider them less harmful than smoking cigarettes.
The country’s highest court rejected a lower court ruling by a conservative judge that said the FDA had unfairly changed its standards for approving e-cigarette liquids when it denied applications from two companies seeking to sell new products.
Still, many e-cigarette flavored liquids remain available in the United States today, fueling what health experts call a vaping epidemic.
Last month New York state attorney general Letitia James filed suit against 13 manufacturers, distributors and retailers of vape devices, accusing them of targeting young people with a highly addictive product that she said is causing a public health crisis.