Some online vape sellers don't comply with regulations to prevent sales to minors, study finds

Online e-cigarette and vape retailers are under fire for not complying with sales restrictions.

Regulations are in place to help prevent the sale of vape products to minors, including age verification, shipping methods and flavor restrictions.

Researchers at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego put those regulations to the test.

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The study, published in JAMA last week, suggested that some retailers are not following these guidelines.

Researchers asked 16 people to purchase flavored vapes online and have them delivered to their homes in San Diego County.

Out of the 156 attempted transactions, 73% were processed and 67% of orders were delivered.

Sales restrictions on flavored tobacco have been enacted in eight U.S. states and 392 cities or counties as of March 21, 2024, according to UC San Diego.

Some restrictions on online transactions are "ambiguous," they stated, including in states like California.

Eight of the buyers in the study were from the city of San Diego, where there is an ordinance that restricts the sale of flavored tobacco products, as stated in a press release.

Failure to comply

The purchases made in the study violated flavor restrictions as well as the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act.

The act is a "federal law that prohibits the use of the United States Postal Service (USPS) to ship vaping products [and] requires both age verification and scanning identification upon delivery," UC San Diego stated.

The research revealed that only 1% of buyers had their IDs scanned and 81% of deliveries were made via USPS.

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There was no interaction reported with delivery personnel for 78% of buyers, while 15% did speak with delivery personnel but did not have their IDs checked.

Eric Leas, Ph.D., lead study author and assistant professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, discussed the findings in a conversation with Fox News Digital.

"The results suggest that it is incredibly easy to buy flavored vaping products online, even in areas where they are restricted," he said. 

"They also suggest that, for the most part, retailers disregard federal and state laws pertaining to shipping requirements and age verification."

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Leas warned that this is "especially an issue for efforts to limit youth vaping."

To prevent these sales from slipping through the cracks, Leas suggested conducting routine checks to "monitor and enforce compliance among online retailers."

Online e-cigarette sales are the "largest and fastest-growing sector of the tobacco [industry]," Leas noted in a press release.

This is according to Leas’ 2023 study published in Tobacco Control, which found that online shopping queries for cigarettes were 194% higher than expected, and were 162% higher than expected for vape products.

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"We need to evaluate tobacco retail policies and ensure they cover eCommerce, and monitor the market to improve implementation," he said.

In response to the Tobacco Control study, California lawmakers recently approved law SB-1230 to strengthen state tobacco oversight programs. That law is expected to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, the release stated.

‘Not a new issue’

Micah Berman, an attorney who is a member of the Cancer Control Research Program at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, told Fox News Digital that "this is not a new issue."

"The Tobacco Control Act required the FDA to issue a regulation to address remote sales (including online sales) within 18 months of the law’s enactment," he said. 

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"Nearly 14 years after that deadline passed, the FDA still has never issued such a rule."

This study suggests that communities nationwide are having their local laws "undermined by easy access to online e-cigarettes and other tobacco products," Berman added.

"It’s simply not feasible for local governments to regulate online sales," he said. "To make progress on this issue, the FDA must fulfill its obligation to issue regulations, and it must be more aggressive in its efforts to block illegal online sales."

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed to Fox News Digital that the agency is reviewing the findings of the study.