(Adds HHS Secretary Azar comment, Trump quote)
WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump
told reporters on Wednesday that the country has a problem with
vaping, and his top health official said the Food and Drug
Administration intends to remove all flavored e-cigarettes from
the market.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters
at a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office that children were
becoming addicted to nicotine thanks to attractive flavors of
e-cigarettes, and that the FDA was working on a "guidance
document" that would lead to a ban of all vape flavors aside
from tobacco flavoring.
"Once the FDA would finalize this guidance, we would begin
enforcement actions to remove all such products from the market
place," Azar said.
Six deaths have been linked to vaping and U.S. public health
officials are investigating 450 cases of potential
vaping-related lung illness across 33 states and one U.S.
territory.
"We have a problem in our country, it's a new problem ...
and it's called vaping," Trump said. "Especially vaping as it
pertains to innocent children."
The nationwide investigation led by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration has not definitively linked the illnesses to any
specific e-cigarette product or ingredient, although health
officials have expressed suspicions about the effects of
inhaling vitamin E acetate, which is contained in some vaping
products.
The FDA has urged consumers to avoid inhaling vitamin E
acetate, buying vaping products on the street, using
marijuana-derived oil with the products or modifying a
store-bought vape product.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey;
Writing by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Chris Reese and Bill
Berkrot)
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