WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the sale of mango and blueberry-flavored Glas e-cigarettes for adult smokers during former Commissioner Marty Makary's final full week in office. Federal standards require vaping products to demonstrate a public health benefit by helping adults quit cigarettes without attracting teenagers.

FDA officials authorized the flavored vapes after a senior official, reporting to Makary, blocked an approval decision by agency scientists in February. Glas Inc. had submitted a marketing request for e-cigarettes to the agency in 2021. The agency posted a six-page memo regarding Glas Inc.'s authorization to its website more than a month after the products' approval.

Data did not show differences in quit rates between adults using mango and blueberry flavors and those using tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes in a three-month study, according to the agency memo. However, policymakers determined the Glas flavored vapes did not need to demonstrate added adult benefit because youth were considered unlikely to use them. Smokers who used Glas vapes previously showed a higher rate of completely switching from cigarettes during a three-month study. Glas requires users to unlock each e-cigarette with an age-verifying cellphone app.

More than 90% of youth who vape choose flavored products, according to federal data. Nearly 6% of U.S. middle and high school students reported using electronic cigarettes in 2024, approximately 1.63 million students. E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. teens, federal figures indicate. A 2025 study published in the journal Tobacco Control links vaping to adverse mental health outcomes.

"I understand the goal of giving adult smokers a less harmful off-ramp, but fruit and sweet flavors are precisely what draw young people in." said Scott Hadland, a physician and researcher. "I worry this could erode the hard-won progress that brought teen vaping to its lowest level in roughly a decade."

Devika Rao, a pediatrician, said, "The addiction factor cannot be overstated enough. Adolescent brains are primed for addiction." Gaby Cuadra, a former youth vaper, said, "As the years kept going on and I would keep vaping, the distances that I used to be able to run, I couldn't do them anymore. I would run out of breath." Ten Democratic senators sent a letter to the agency requesting more information about the authorization.