The US Food and Drug Administration will announce a ban on the sale of fruit and candy-flavored e-cigarettes from companies like Juul in convenience stores and gas stations in a bid to stop young people getting addicted.
The agency also plans to introduce age-verification measures for online purchases to try to ensure that minors can't buy the flavors, The Washington Post reported.
The planned restrictions will not include vape shops or other specialty retail stores, and menthol and tobacco flavors will be exempt from the restrictions.
The FDA will announce the ban next week, officials told The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Reuters.
In an interview in September, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that "e-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous — and dangerous — trend among teens."
"The disturbing and accelerating trajectory of use we’re seeing in youth, and the resulting path to addiction, must end," he said. "It’s simply not tolerable."
Popular e-cigarette startup Juul Labs has faced controversy over the appeal of its products for minors. The company was recently valued at $15 billion, and its products have amassed 70% of the e-cig market.
A Morgan Stanley research report published in November found that about 15% of Juul users weren't smokers before they started vaping, and that group tended to be younger than other vapers.
Read more: We just got our first look at how many minors are using Silicon Valley's favorite e-cig, and it doesn't look good
In September, Juul Labs said it planned to work with the FDA, and that its "mission is to improve the lives of adult smokers by providing them with a true alternative to combustible cigarettes."
