The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously April 2, 2025 that health authorities acted properly when they blocked e-cigarette companies from marketing fruit- and dessert-flavored flavors. The court upheld the FDA’s argument that these products could be addictive for young people who like sweet flavors in vaping devices. Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered gadgets that produce an inhalable vapor by heating a nicotine-laden liquid.
Unlike tobacco, they do not contain cancer-causing tar or carbon monoxide. But the World Health Organization and anti-smoking advocates refuse to consider them less harmful than smoking cigarettes. The country’s highest court rejected a lower court ruling by a conservative judge that said the FDA had unfairly changed its standards for approving e-cigarette liquids when it denied applications from two companies seeking to sell new products.
Still, many e-cigarette flavored liquids remain available in the United States today, fueling what health experts call a vaping epidemic. Last month New York state attorney general Letitia James filed suit against 13 manufacturers, distributors and retailers of vape devices, accusing them of targeting young people with a highly addictive product that she said is causing a public health crisis
