E-cigs using synthetic nicotine come under FDA oversight

U.S. regulators will soon begin cracking down on vaping companies using a now-closed loophole, including a line of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes that have become teenagers’ top choice.

Under a law taking effect Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration can regulate e-cigarettes and similar products that use synthetic nicotine.

The action targets Puff Bar and several other vaping companies that recently switched their formulas to laboratory-made nicotine to skirt FDA oversight.

The change will allow the FDA to “hold e-cigarette companies using synthetic nicotine to the same public health standards we’ve implemented for other tobacco products,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a tweet Wednesday. Companies must now register with the FDA and submit their products for review within 30 days.

Puff Bar did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The FDA’s action does not automatically ban Puff Bar and similar products. Instead it brings them under the same regulatory scheme