Online vape sellers are failing to comply with regulations aimed at preventing children from purchasing their products, a new report warns.

Researchers have found that online e-cigarette retailers consistently fail to comply with laws aimed at preventing the sale of vaping products to youth.

Regulations on age verification, shipping methods and flavor restrictions are all being ignored, according to the US report.

Researchers asked 16 people to purchase flavored vaping products online and have them delivered to their homes in San Diego County, California.

Of 156 transactions attempted, 73% were processed and 67% were delivered.

Only 1% of shoppers had their ID scanned, while more than three in four (78%) shoppers said they had no interaction with delivery staff.

Three in 20 (15%) shoppers spoke with delivery staff but did not have their identity verified.

And 6% of buyers had their identity verified but not scanned, according to findings published in the journal JAMA.

Restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco were introduced in eight US states and 392 cities or counties in March this year, but some of them do not cover e-commerce.

For example, California Senate Bill (SB) 793 of 2022 banned the sale of flavored tobacco products but left restrictions on e-commerce ambiguous.

Due to the ambiguity of California law, the research team sought to test for differences in compliance with local tobacco e-commerce ordinances.

Eight buyers were from the city of San Diego, where an ordinance restricts the sale of flavored tobacco products, including online sales.

The other eight were from other San Diego County communities, which are not subject to the same restrictions. Delivery did not differ significantly between buyers in the two jurisdictions.

The online purchases also violated the Preventing Online Sales of Electronic Cigarettes to Children Act, a federal law prohibiting the use of the United States Postal Service (USPS) to ship vaping products and requiring both age verification and identification scanning upon delivery.

Dr. Eric Leas, of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, said: “There are long-standing surveillance systems that help enforce laws in physical stores, but we don’t do that. have a system in place for online retailers.

“The results of this study highlight the need for stronger monitoring and enforcement of online tobacco retailers.

“Online sales of e-cigarettes are the largest and fastest growing sector of the tobacco industry.

“We need to evaluate tobacco retail policies and ensure they cover e-commerce and monitor the market to improve their implementation. »

In a 2023 study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, Dr. Leas reported that after the implementation of SB-793, online purchase queries were 194% higher than expected for cigarettes and 162% higher than expected. higher than expected for vaping products.

As a result, to strengthen national tobacco monitoring programs, including the online sale of flavored tobacco products, California lawmakers recently approved SB-1230, citing Dr. Leas’ study on tobacco control.

The law is expected to come into force on January 1, 2025.

Dr. Leas added: “This research tests an online compliance monitoring system that local health departments could emulate as a routine monitoring system to strengthen the implementation of public health laws designed to reduce the sale of tobacco products to minors. »