Nearly two years after an FDA ban on candy- and fruit-flavored vaping products, Puff Bar has become the most popular e-cigarette brand among teenagers – thanks in part to its large variety of sweet flavors, like Banana Ice and Cool Mint. In an exclusive broadcast interview, CBS MORNINGS co-host Tony Dokoupil spoke with the co-CEOs of Puff Bar about a loophole that has allowed them to avoid FDA regulation of tobacco products by switching to a tobacco-free synthetic nicotine formula. Dokoupil also sat down with U.S. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, who says the FDA is “getting punked by two 27-year-olds.” The report explores the federal government’s options for closing the loophole.

Watch here: https://cbsn.ws/3IPGd0N

Twitter link: https://bit.ly/3oVjFUz

Watch part 1 of Tony Dokoupil’s investigation into Puff Bar that aired last month here: https://cbsn.ws/3HCaAra

Excerpts:

- Puff Bar executive Patrick Beltran: “People always say, like, ‘You guys are trying to sidestep or side skirt, you know, kind of laws.’ And we’re not. You know, I mean, if there’s a law that would order us off the market tomorrow, we would pull our products off the market tomorrow.”

- Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi: “The FDA has just been slow and tentative, and now they’re getting punked by two 27-year-olds.”

- Puff Bar executive Nick Minas: “These loopholes have caused us to look for alternative ways to still provide to our consumers and customers with the products that they need.”

- Dr. Robert Jackler on e-cigarette companies finding loopholes within the FDA: “Every time the government brings in regulations, the industry can innovate around it. They have the smartest people to think up ways of skirting and undermining the intent of regulation.”

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