Scott Shalley: Florida Retail Federation — feds must stop the flood of illegal vapes now

We know China wants a hold on U.S. retail space, with “Made in China” written on the bottom of items in almost every retail sector.

But what happens when these products target minors and risk their health and safety by ignoring U.S. regulations and Food and Drug Administration compliance requirements?

That is where we are today with the influx of illegal vapes in Florida, as the TOP destination state in the U.S. for having thousands of colorful, flavored vape products flowing to the state each month to appeal to those under the age of 18 years old.

Florida retailers desperately need the FDA and other federal regulators to step up and crack down on China dumping illegal vapes into our state. They are arriving mostly by cargo container and go through little inspection; no FDA compliance forms or safety inspection. They are, in effect, ignoring the health regulations we have set up to protect consumers from unsafe products. This must stop now before we lose more young people to fentanyl or any other deadly ingredient in an illegal vape.

Florida has the highest rate of sales of disposable vape products in the country, with over nine times the amount of the State of New York. In 2023 alone, Florida sold

That’s $410 million in disposable vapes.

Yet, the total sales amount is not the most concerning part of this statistic. The horrific part is that only $56 million of those sales were from companies that work with the FDA for compliance. Three other companies sold the remaining $335 million, and each of those companies is Chinese-owned and unregulated in the United States.

So, $335 million in illegal vapes are being smoked by Florida consumers with no federal inspection, safety or health standards whatsoever.

One of the Chinese companies, Fume, sold $162 million in Florida alone.

However, in all other states combined, they sold only $18 million worth of products. That is an incredibly disproportionate number, which highlights the fact that Florida is being targeted as a dumping ground for these products.

Maybe this is because Florida’s economy is thriving in every other way? Maybe it is because of our vibrant, international tourism climate?

Whatever the reason, we need urgent action from the federal government to end the dangerous flow of illegal vapes into our states. We work with retailers all the time to warn them and consumers about the danger of these illegal products, but China’s companies work diligently to make the illegal products look dangerously similar to the legal ones.

The number of illicit Chinese vape products flooding into Florida is unacceptable.

Florida should NOT be experiencing $335 million worth of unregulated and illegal vape products from China. We are officially sounding the alarm on this problem and asking the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to stop these illegal products now, before someone gets seriously hurt or killed.

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Scott Shalley is president and CEO of the Florida Retail Federation.