By Timothy S. Donahue
Top Takeaways:
State crackdown: Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox has sent warning letters to more than 1,500 retailers over unauthorized sales of vapes.
China-linked supply: State officials say many of the products entering Alaska stores are illegally imported without FDA marketing authorization.
Retailers on notice: Businesses have been instructed to review FDA-authorized product lists and remove unauthorized products.
Alaska’s attorney general has started a statewide warning campaign against the sale of unauthorized vaping products and nicotine pouches, sending letters to more than 1,500 tobacco retailers and distributors across the state.
Attorney General Stephen J. Cox stated that the effort is focused on removing illegal nicotine products from store shelves, especially those marketed to youth.
“Flavored disposable vapes and nicotine pouches found in convenience stores, smoke shops, and grocery stores around Alaska are largely manufactured and imported illegally into the United States from China,” Cox said. “The companies that manufacture these products have not undergone the FDA-mandated marketing order process, so they cannot be sold in our state.”
The letters instruct retailers to review U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization lists and make sure they are not selling, distributing, or displaying unauthorized nicotine products.
Under federal law, manufacturers must get premarket approval from the FDA before they can legally sell new tobacco products—including e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches—in the United States. Each flavor of a product needs to be reviewed separately.
According to the Alaska Department of Law, only 39 vaping products and 26 nicotine pouch products currently have FDA marketing authorization.
Officials say unauthorized products are still widely available in retail stores across the country, often marketed with fruit or candy flavors or packaging that looks like confectionery or mint products.
Cox stated that retailers have now been officially notified that the state expects compliance.
“Retailers and distributors are now on notice that the Law Department takes the health of our youth very seriously,” Cox said. “We will vigorously enforce Alaska’s laws designed to protect them. Retailers and distributors must not sell or distribute e-cigarettes or nicotine pouches that have not received FDA approval.”
The attorney general’s office also warned retailers and consumers about disposing of seized products, noting that disposable vapes contain lithium batteries that can pose fire hazards if discarded improperly.
