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NY AG sues flavored vape vendors, says they're fueling youth ‘public health crisis’
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Feb 20, 2025
Modified Feb 21, 2025
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Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Feb 20, 2025
Modified Feb 21, 2025
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New York Attorney General Letitia James is going after e-cigarette companies she says are targeting young people with flavors like “blue razz slushy” and “sour watermelon patch.”
James filed a lawsuit in a federal court on Thursday against nine e-cigarette manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers she alleges are marketing and selling flavored vapes in New York, in violation of local, state and federal laws. The complaint argues that the companies have fueled a “public health crisis” by contributing to youth vaping and nicotine addiction.
New York City and state laws ban the sale of e-cigarettes that taste like anything other than tobacco. And the federal Food and Drug Administration has only authorized the sale of a handful of e-cigarette products in the United States, none of which have flavors other than tobacco or menthol.
But that hasn’t stopped New Yorkers from buying colorful, disposable vapes in a wide range of exotic flavors, either at brick-and-mortar shops or online.
“The vaping industry is taking a page out of Big Tobacco’s playbook,” James said. “They’re making nicotine seem cool, getting kids hooked, and creating a massive public health crisis in the process.”
While vaping has become far more prevalent among teens than conventional cigarette use over the past decade, data from recent years shows it’s already declining. About 8% of high school students reported e-cigarette use in 2024, down from 14% in 2022, according to data from the FDA’s Annual National Youth Tobacco Survey.
James is asking the judge to ban the companies from continuing to sell flavored e-cigarettes to New Yorkers. She’s also seeking monetary damages that her office says could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, and is requesting that the companies be ordered to contribute to an abatement fund designed to address the harms of youth vaping.
The state has set up a similar fund to address drug addiction with the money that has come in from settlements with opioid manufacturers.
Puff Bar, a popular, California-based disposable vape brand, is among the companies named in James’ lawsuit. Puff Bar, launched in 2019, became a top e-cigarette brand among middle and high school students after Juul stopped selling pods with fruity flavors, according to a recent report from the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Vapes with flavors like “black cherry ice” and “banana mint” are among the products currently available for sale on Puff Bar’s website.
But Patrick Beltran, Puff Bar’s co-CEO, said the company no longer sells vapes that contain nicotine and doesn’t ship its flavored vapes to New York.
“The brand sold really well in 2019 and copycats came in and counterfeited the brand and we’re the ones left holding the negative press, unfortunately,” he added.
The complaint says Puff Bar and the other companies named in the lawsuit have “misled New York customers into believing that flavored e-cigarettes are legal and harmless.”
This isn’t the first legal action flavored vape manufacturers and distributors have faced. Mayor Eric Adams filed a lawsuit in 2023 against four companies that allegedly distributed the banned products to local retailers, and followed it up with another lawsuit against 11 wholesalers the following year. Both are still pending.
James’ lawsuit targets some of the same defendants, including Magellan Technology and Demand Vape, both based in Buffalo.
Magellan has previously argued in court filings that vaping is less harmful than smoking cigarettes, and that many e-cigarette users are adults who formerly smoked tobacco.
In a comment on James’ lawsuit, Jon Glauser, the cofounder and chief security officer of Demand Vape, said the attorney general is “wasting New York taxpayers' money and federal court time, which desperately need to be focused on substantive issues that truly impact our communities.”
The aerosols produced by e-cigarettes can contain carcinogenic chemicals and heavy metals like nickel and lead, although they generally contain fewer harmful chemicals than cigarettes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaping's long-term health effects are still being studied.
James previously secured $462 million from Juul in a 2023 settlement for that company’s role in contributing to youth vaping, her office noted.
This article was updated with additional comment.
Tagged
new york state
Health and Science
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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