RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina’s top prosecutor expanded his efforts to halt e-cigarette sales to teens on Monday by suing eight more manufacturers of vaping products.
Josh Stein, the Democratic attorney general in the traditionally tobacco-friendly state, said he is filing lawsuits against eight e-cigarette companies in an announcement timed to grab attention during the first week of school.
He alleges that the vape manufacturers market to young people with candy and dessert flavors on social media and don’t use proper age verification for sales. He’s asking courts to shut down marketing and sales to underage people.
“We simply have to do more to protect kids, and I as attorney general of North Carolina refuse to stand by as e-cigarette companies entice thousands of children to use their products,” Stein told reporters.
He said flavors including cotton candy, gummy bear and graham cracker are helping to fuel an “epidemic” of smoking among young people and threatening to reverse a downward trend in tobacco use in North Carolina and around the country.