The FDA has approved only a few dozen e-cigarette products. None of them are food-flavored.

Still, there are hundreds of unauthorized, potentially dangerous vaping products being openly sold in stores, marketed to teens with fruity flavors and digital technology.

Now, U.S. lawmakers are blasting top agencies for failing to get the problem under control.

Unauthorized, potentially dangerous vaping products are being openly sold in stores, marketed to teens with flavors and digital technology.

Tobacco smoking has all but gone away among America’s youth, but there’s real concern that a slickly marketed new offender will form a new generation of nicotine addicts.

According to new data, although the numbers for vaping have gone down in the last year, nearly 8% of high school students use vapes or e-cigarettes, and nearly 88% of them use a flavored product.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because this has been a concern for years. We highlighted kid-friendly, fruity-flavored vapes back in 2022, when they were supposed to be banned for good.

But just in the last few weeks, our cameras discovered flavors like Rainbow, Sour Apple Ice and Lemonade, still for sale, right out in the open in stores in the D.C. area, which puts a “fun-filled spin on a sinister reality,” said Jim Carroll, former director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

“These pens that look innocent, they’re not, they’re dangerous,” Carroll said. “These are being intentionally designed to get kids addicted.”

Some vaping products have reportedly contained heavy metals, and even the deadly substance, fentanyl. Carroll pointed out that these vapes can have hundreds of times the amount of nicotine than they should. Others have caused serious health problems.

It’s not just the fruity flavors attracting kids. New-age vape devices we found online mirror cell phones, have Bluetooth, and come preloaded with digital games. Others are disguised to look like a common highlighter pen.

Vape highlighters are displayed on websites selling multiple varieties of the devices. Carroll says they’re flooding the market from China, a country that has already banned the sale of flavored e-cigarettes within its own borders.

“The Chinese government is not a friend to the United States, let there be no mistake,” said Carroll. “They know exactly what they’re doing by sending these dangerous products to the U.S. They’re wiping out an entire generation.”

It’s happening, according to lawmakers, right under the nose of our federal regulators. In a heated Congressional hearing this summer, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin raised his voice to both the FDA and officials from the Department of Justice.

“Do something,” Durbin said. “What in the hell have you been waiting for?”

Durbin showed a photo, taken by his staff, of several vape products that were being sold less than one mile from the FDA’s headquarters, and pointed out that not a single one of the products was authorized by the FDA.

Lawmakers grilled FDA officials for inaction that they said could have wiped the products out of the hands of teens years ago.

In 2019, a Maryland court ordered the FDA to finish reviewing all unauthorized vaping product applications by September 2021, essentially giving them the power to shut down the flow of vaping devices marketed to teens.

The FDA told us it has “processed” more than 26 million new tobacco product applications and only approved a few dozen. Still, 500,000 applications remain in the queue and unapproved vapes continue to flood the market. So far, the FDA says it has fined 230 retailers, and issued more than 1,300 warning letters.

For Jim Carroll, there’s no sum of money too high, or commitment of time too long to get this problem under control.

“The FDA is sending warning letters, that’s not enough,” he said. “We need action. Shut those shops down, prosecute the owners and make sure they’re following the laws that are on the books.”

Action was promised this summer, as the FDA and the Department of Justice announced a task force in June, promising to address the illegal distribution and sale of vapes.

“It was a great headline,” Carroll said. “I haven’t seen any action yet. I’m anxious for them to really start cracking down, making arrests, and getting these products off the streets.”