Members of Congress took aim at flavored e-cigarettes on Wednesday, pressuring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban vapes.
Democrats - led by Rep Katie Porter of California - called on the federal health agency to ban the devices that they believe serve as a gateway to children forming anicotine addiction.
However, Acting FDA Commissioner Dr Janet Woodcock was non-committal about banning or allowing vapes as she addressed House Oversight and Reform Committee.
The FDA already announced earlier this year that they will move to get menthol cigarettes off of the market after being pushed to do so by President Joe Biden.
'If the FDA banned all flavored e-cigarettes, would less kids continue to vape, among those who have started, in your opinion?' asked Porter, according to CNN.
Dr Janet Woodcock deflected pressure from congressional Democrats to put an e-cigarette ban in place, not committing to doing it or not
Dr Woodcock replied: 'While I can't predict the future, I think that might be likely.
'We also would have to, regardless, limit advertising and sales in targeting children and other practices.'
Flavored tobacco products have often been the blame for an increase in youth nicotine abuse with a slate of bills passed across the country to ban them.
A 2020 survey found that more than 80 percent of youths who consumed nicotine did so through flavored vaped or e-cigarettes.
The survey also showed that many were transitioning from the flavored nicotine to menthol cigarettes, which also have a mint flavor.
The FDA hopes to close that bridge with the menthol ban, but some states and cities are taking it even further.
Last year, sale of all electronic cigarettes was banned in San Francisco and Chicago banned the sale of flavored nicotine.
The entire state of New York became the first to do so when it banned the sale of flavored tobacco products last year.
A bill in Florida that would have done the same passed through the state
