Federal agencies are reporting the largest ever seizure of unauthorized e-cigarettes—nearly $100 million worth of products.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Record Seizure — Federal authorities confiscated 4.7 million unauthorized e-cigarettes worth $86.5 million in Chicago, marking the largest seizure of its kind.
- Illicit Imports — Most shipments originated from China and used vague, misleading labels to evade detection and import safety reviews, according to HHS.
- Aggressive Enforcement — The FDA and CBP are expanding efforts to curb youth vaping by blocking illegal imports, dismantling distribution networks, and preventing in-store sales of unauthorized e-cigarettes.
Federal authorities have seized 4.7 million units of unauthorized e-cigarette products with an estimated retail value of $86.5 million—the largest-ever seizure of this kind, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), FDA, and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The seizures were part of a joint federal operation in Chicago to examine incoming shipments and prevent illegal e-cigarettes from entering the country.
Almost all the illegal shipments uncovered by the operation originated in China, according to HHS. FDA and CBP personnel determined that many of these shipments contained vague and misleading product descriptions with incorrect values, in an apparent attempt to evade duties and the review of products for import safety concerns, the agency says.
This enforcement action is part of the FDA’s broader aggressive strategy against childhood vaping, the agency says. Additional activities include ending the practice of “port shopping,” by which illegal products repeatedly try to enter the United States; addressing the distribution networks of illegal e-cigarette products; educating parents about dangers of vaping; and working with store owners nationwide to prevent the sale of illegal products.
The seizures represent coordinated compliance and enforcement efforts by multiple federal agencies working together to stop the distribution and sale of illegal e-cigarettes. Prior to this operation, the joint FDA and CBP team conducted investigative work to identify potentially non-compliant incoming shipments. The team was also able to successfully improve the efficiency of the review and processing, building off previous operations.
In total this year, the FDA and CBP have stopped more than 6 million unauthorized e-cigarettes worth over $120 million from entering the country.
