Somerville is taking more aggressive action against tobacco products that have sneaked onto store shelves without explicit government approval.
All of the proliferating vapes, pouches and other nicotine merchandise need what’s called a marketing granted order from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but “we have found out that many, many of the products that are on the shelves right now” don’t have one, said Bonny Carroll, director of tobacco control in the city’s Health and Human Services Department.
That may be because manufacturers assume it’s okay to sell while awaiting approval. “Technically that’s against the law,” Carroll told the Board of Health on Thursday.
Notice is going by Friday to the seven affected Somerville stores “that a lot of those products have to come off the shelves,” Carroll said, a position that’s affirmed by assistant city solicitor Jason Piques as well as by the FDA. Because of that federal confirmation, enforcement doesn’t even need a vote by the Board of Health.
In practical terms, the change means that stores are allowed to sell down their stock until May 1. Going beyond that risks being reported to the FDA and being denied permits when local retail renewals come up at the end of June, Carroll said.
Even some of the products with marketing granted orders are illegal in Massachusetts. “We prohibit all flavored tobacco products,” Carroll said. That leaves around 20 vaping products and two or three pouches allowed for retail in the state. Among the vaping products, most of those are devices, not the substances that go in them.
Tougher limits on tobacco are being considered also in Cambridge, where on Wednesday city councillors meet to update related laws for the first time since 2015. City manager Yi-An Huang noted that nearly every other municipality in the state has outpaced Cambridge “in response to the tobacco industry’s efforts to evade use and sales restrictions.”
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