FDA Hits 21 Esco Bar Retailers: $20K Fines Each

Esco Bar vape devices , which the FDA has not approved for sale, are what the retailers are expected to offer. According to the government, all 21 businesses that sold items without authorization were previously warned and will now face harsher penalties.

The agency is requesting the maximum legal amounts of civil money penalties (CMPs) for a single infraction. The Tobacco Control Act is a section of the Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act, which sets a maximum CMP of $20,678 for each infraction involving tobacco products.

"These retailers received due warnings about the consequences of continuing to sell these illegal e-cigarettes," FDA Center for Tobacco Products Director Brian King said in a news statement . "They ought to have taken appropriate action to address the infractions, but they choose not to, and they now have to live with the repercussions of that choice. FDA will not stand by and watch as the law is broken.

The FDA has sent warning letters to distributors and dealers of Esco Bars on many occasions. Shipments of Esco Bar arriving at U.S. ports were directed to be detained by the agency's import inspectors in May. After a week, the company that makes Esco Bar vapes received an order to take the goods from the American market.

Despite worries about FDA penalties, companies nevertheless distribute and sell goods like disposable Esco Bars because consumers want them. Only a small portion of the estimated 10-15 million Americans who use nicotine vapor products make use of the few low-powered, tobacco-flavored vapes that the FDA has approved .

The FDA would not have penalized the establishments listed today if they had offered ignitable cigarettes to their adult customers.