Since entering the U.S. market in 2007, e-cigarettes have been the target of a massive misinformation campaign. Despite being a proven tool for reducing tobacco-related harm, public health groups have opposed their use among adults, advocating for restrictions, excessive taxation, and outright bans.
Now, an even more dubious player has joined the fight: Big Tobacco. These companies are pushing a narrative that demonizes Chinese-manufactured vapes—despite the fact that their own products are manufactured in the same country. Their efforts severely limit adult access to products that are significantly less harmful than cigarettes.
Several years ago, the media began reporting on so-called fentanyl-laced vapes. In 2023, then-Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody claimed that “illicit vapes … could contain fentanyl.” Moody received campaign contributions from various tobacco companies in 2022
Across the country, state lawmakers backed by Big Tobacco are introducing legislation that mandates state vape registries. These registries require all vapor products sold in a state to have FDA approval or pending approval. Since 99% of e-cigarette products lack FDA approval, these bills are criminalizing hardworking small business owners overnight.
There has been a major push to remove so-called Chinese vapes from the market, but the reality is that the majority of vapor products—including those with FDA approval—are manufactured in China. For example, in 2022, the FDA issued marketing orders for R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company’s Vuse e-cigarette products, which are produced by British American Tobacco. According to Vuse’s website, its FDA-approved power units are “made in China,” while the e-liquid is blended in the U.S. Similarly, NJOY, acquired by tobacco giant Altria in 2023, received the only FDA marketing order for a menthol-flavored e-cigarette in 2024. Like Vuse, NJOY’s devices and cartridges are partially made in China and Malaysia. Even JUUL manufactures its products in China, along with facilities in Hungary, Mexico, and the United States.
It is completely misleading for large e-cigarette manufacturers to fuel misinformation about the threat of Chinese vapes when they themselves use the same overseas manufacturing facilities for their own FDA-approved products.
This does not mean that tobacco companies should be barred from marketing e-cigarettes. However, they should not be the only companies granted FDA approval due to the glaring flaws in the agency’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) process. These draconian regulations are crushing American small businesses, preventing them from manufacturing e-cigarettes and their components domestically.
After classifying e-cigarettes as tobacco products in 2016, the FDA required manufacturers to submit costly applications to continue selling their long-standing consumer products. These applications were due in September 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The following year, the FDA issued millions of denial orders, effectively shutting down a consumer-driven industry that had helped millions of adults quit smoking.
The financial burden of the PMTA process is staggering. Estimates indicate that the cost of submitting an application ranges from $28,566 to $2,595,244 per electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) unit, with an average cost of $466,563. For e-liquids, the cost ranges from $12,112 to $398,324 per product, with an average of $131,640.
Other consumer products are not subjected to such stringent regulations. For instance, under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, dietary supplement manufacturers need only notify the FDA before bringing a new product to market. The notification must include information demonstrating the supplement’s safety under recommended usage conditions, but it does not require agency approval. This process takes just 75 days.
Implementing a similar notification-based system for e-cigarettes—particularly open systems, which are overwhelmingly used by adults rather than youth—would encourage the growth of an American-manufactured vape industry. It would also reduce reliance on Chinese imports. Additionally, reforms to the Tobacco Control Act could relax FDA regulations, allowing for more e-cigarette products to be marketed through the PMTA pathway.
The new administration must take notice: Big Tobacco is leveraging its money and influence to dominate the American e-cigarette market through fear-mongering and hypocritical arguments. E-cigarettes have the potential to transform the tobacco landscape in the U.S. They should be American-made—but not exclusively by Big Tobacco.