senator. Chuck Schumer is calling on the FDA to investigate Elf Bar, the hot new e-cigarette
senator. Chuck Schumer has called on the US Food and Drug Administration to investigate a new Chinese-made hot electronic cigarette that he believes is skirting US advertising laws by attracting children and teens directly through social media.
The New York Democrat said the e-cig — dubbed “Elf Bar” — is wrapped in colorful packaging to attract young customers. It also pairs them with kid-friendly flavors like rainbow candy, peach and mango, cotton candy and vanilla ice cream, according to a Sunday statement.
“While the FDA has done much to eliminate the worst e-cigarettes that can attract children, like Juul, there are workarounds and illegal methods used by rogue actors like Elf Bar,” Schumer said in the statement.
“Elf Bar is littering TikTok and Instagram, using direct-paying influencers, to push e-cig to kids and teens,” he said. “This kind of stunt might completely evade the FDA’s advertising rules, and we need to get ahead of it.”
Schumer said Elf Bar could be worse than Juul – the popular maker of electronic cigarettes That forced some flavours Because they allegedly lured children – given the “shoddy manufacturing, risk and danger of counterfeit products due to mislabeled nicotine levels”.
The statement added that federal regulators should use their “full power and authority to investigate and take action against Elf Bar and prepare to ban it from the market.”
The FDA did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
The use of disposable e-cigarettes has risen in recent years, especially among children.
Schumer’s office said use of disposable e-cigarettes jumped about 1,000% from 2019 to 2020 among high school students. It increased by more than 400% among middle school e-cigarette users.
Elf Bar, which is based in Shenzhen, China, is available at Bodegas throughout New York City, Schumer said.
In an open letter to the FDA, Schumer said he worries that companies like Elf Bar — which offers “cheap, colorful and sweet electronic cigarettes” — will push the crisis to new heights.
Schumer asked the FDA to also look into Elf Bar’s manufacturing supply chain, which could lend itself to fake products bearing the company’s name.
“Regulators cannot count on modern-day tobacco barons to regulate themselves,” Schumer wrote. “Given the risks to play and the health of our nation’s children, I am asking the Food and Drug Administration to immediately prioritize this matter.”
