In Victory for Kids, U.S. Supreme Court Rules FDA Properly Denied Marketing Applications for Flavored E-Cigarettes

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a victory for kids and public health, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that the FDA followed the law in denying marketing applications for certain flavored e-cigarette products. The Court ruled that the FDA acted appropriately in denying marketing applications for nicotine e-liquids with blatantly kid-friendly flavors like “Jimmy the Juice Man Peachy Strawberry,” “Suicide Bunny Mother’s Milk and Cookies,” “Iced Lemonade” and “Killer Kustard Blueberry.” This ruling reverses a misguided decision by the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that had struck down the FDA’s marketing denials. The Supreme Court rejected arguments that the FDA had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in its decisions.

Today’s ruling is a major victory for the health of America’s kids and efforts to protect them from the flavored e-cigarettes that have fueled a youth nicotine addiction crisis. It affirms that the FDA’s marketing denials for flavored e-cigarettes have been legally and scientifically sound and should encourage FDA to stay the course. This ruling is significant because the FDA has similarly denied marketing applications for over 26 million flavored e-cigarette products based on the overwhelming evidence that flavored products appeal to kids and pose significant risks to their health. The FDA concluded that manufacturers had failed to produce sufficient evidence that these products would provide benefits to smokers that outweighed the substantial risks they posed to youth and therefore failed to demonstrate that the products would be appropriate for the protection of public health, as required by law.

While youth e-cigarette use has fallen sharply in the U.S., it remains a serious public health problem driven by flavored products. According to the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, over 1.6 million kids still use e-cigarettes and nearly 90% of them use flavored products. E-cigarettes expose kids to massive doses of highly addictive nicotine, which can harm developing brains, and to toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, lead and benzene. While the FDA has authorized the sale of only 34 e-cigarette products, manufacturers continue to flood the market with thousands of illegal, unauthorized products. To end this crisis, the FDA must deny marketing applications for flavored e-cigarettes and step up enforcement efforts to clear the market of illegal products. Today’s ruling should spur the FDA to act quickly to do so.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and 10 other national public health, medical and community organizations filed an amicus brief supporting the FDA. The case is FDA v. Wages and White Lion Investments, LLC, d/b/a Triton Distribution.