By now, most of us are aware that vaping can be terrible for your body. You may also know that in recent years, the F.D.A. has cracked down on vapes by banning fruit flavors — which are primarily marketed to teens — and forcing manufacturers to request approval in order to stay on the market. That has resulted in many vapes being removed from store shelves, but some sneaky companies dodged the ban by using fake nicotine made in labs instead of tobacco-derived nicotine. Now Congress is trying to close the loophole that allowed some fruity vapes to stay on the market.
While the F.D.A. has the authority to decide whether or not products that contain nicotine that comes from tobacco are sold, it does not have the same authority over synthetic nicotine products. Sneaky sneaky. So, one of the most popular vape brands amongst teens, Puff Bar, switched to synthetic nicotine last year so it could continue to be sold in all the fruity flavors that consumers adore such as mojito and pink lemonade.
