Senators from both sides of the aisle took the Food and Drug Administration and Department of Justice to task Wednesday over what they described as a failure by both agencies to stop the sale of illegal e-cigarettes through online retailers, gas stations and vape shops across the country.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing focused on enforcement of e-cigarette laws, Chair Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., held up a large, colorful photo print of illegal vapes that he said were being sold at a shop near the FDA’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., and asked why they are allowed to remain on store shelves.
“You have completely fallen down on the job,” Durbin said to Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.
