New York on Thursday sued some of the country’s biggest distributors of electronic cigarettes, accusing the companies of violating state laws that prohibit the sale of vaping flavors and designs that appeal to children.
Attorney General Letitia James announced the lawsuit targeting middlemen that distribute fruit- and candy-flavored e-cigarettes like Puff Bar and Elf Bar to hundreds of convenience stories and gas stations across the state. The approach differs from past litigation by New York and other states, which targeted vaping manufacturers, such as Juul Labs.
Widely blamed for sparking the teen vaping trend, Juul has paid more than $1 billion to settle dozens of state and local lawsuits and investigations into its early marketing practices, which included launch parties and product giveaways. The company stopped selling flavors like mango and mint in 2019 and is no longer popular with teens.
Instead, Chinese-made disposable e-cigarettes like Elf Bar have become the top choice among high school and middle school students. None of the products are approved by federal health regulators but they continue shipping into the U.S., often mislabeled as batteries, cell phones or other products.
The state’s nearly 200-page legal complaint points to “widespread evidence of illegal conduct, including documents showing illegal shipments of flavored vapes to New York.” The filing also includes photos of brightly colored e-cigarettes that resemble soft drinks and candy and come in flavors like “fruity bears freeze,” “cotton candy,” and “strawberry cereal donut milk.”
New York banned all vaping flavors other than tobacco in 2020.
“For too long, these companies have disregarded our laws in order to profit off of our young people, but we will not risk the health and safety of our kids,” James said in a statement.
The lawsuit seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from the companies, as well as a permanent ban on their sales of flavored vapes in New York.
Companies named in the lawsuit include Demand Vape of New York, Evo Brands of California, Safa Goods of Florida and Midwest Goods of Illinois.
Calls and messages to the companies were not immediately returned Thursday morning.
According to the lawsuit “Demand Vape maintains close ties with international manufacturers, such that its co-founder routinely travels to China where Demand Vape’s products originate to direct flavor development and marketing.”
In 2022 litigation, the co-founder of Buffalo-based Demand Vape told a federal judge that his company had sold more than $132 million worth of Elf Bar e-cigarettes in the past year. The company that makes Elf Bar is based in Shenzhen, China, and sells flavors including “strawberry mango” and “lemon mint.”
Despite the continued availability of disposable e-cigarettes, the vaping rate among U.S. teens has fallen to a 10-year low of under 6%, according to federal figures released last year. Government health officials attribute the drop to more aggressive U.S. enforcement, including hundreds of warning letters sent to retail stores selling unauthorized vaping products.
