It was a rainy, cloudy day in Southeast Washington, D.C., as workers combed public trash cans, sewers and streets for nicotine products.
The street sweepers and their supervisors were conducting a study to find out what products, whether tobacco or vaporizers, the community had been using.
It was the last day for researchers digging through trash around the district and the miles-long work through Wednesday’s rain capped a week that produced pounds of cigarettes and colorful packages of e-cigarettes.
The results were shocking.
All vaping products collected by the team on Wednesday (100 percent) were manufactured in China and sold illegally in the US.
Bao’an District, Dongguan City, and Guangming District are just a few of the foreign localities where the devices originated before traveling more than 8,000 miles to DC.
WSPM Group researchers conducted a study in Washington, DC over the past few weeks to determine what nicotine products District residents consume.
The research firm collected tobacco and vape products from 84 different neighborhoods around the district.
Of all the e-cigarette devices collected Wednesday, all (100 percent) were manufactured in China and sold illegally in the US.
The study was conducted by WSPM Group, an international market research firm that has conducted similar studies around the world for the past two decades.
The company’s founder, Daniel Touati, confirmed in a statement to DailyMail.com: “Indeed, a very high percentage (if not all) are Chinese products most likely smuggled into the US.”
None of the vaporizers recovered Wednesday were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Their study included 84 different neighborhoods in DC.
Former ATF agent Peter Forecelli, who attended the study Wednesday, said he was surprised that all of the recovered vaping products were made in China.
“With these vaping products, we don’t know what they’re putting in there,” Forcelli exclusively told DailyMail.com. “And when you consider what they put in the counterfeit pills they make, it’s actually pretty scary if you think about it.”
“It’s not comforting to see these profits going into the hands of Chinese entities because we know that the Chinese government intervenes in all companies.”
He said he is concerned because “there is no regulation” in China on the manufacturing of e-cigarettes.
‘I mean, what are they breathing into their lungs?’
And the FDA may not know the answer to that question.
To date, the FDA has only 23 vaping devices approved for legal use in the USA.
Despite this, illegal foreign-made vaporizers abound in bodegas, gas stations, and convenience stores across the United States.
The ingredients, impacts, and health implications of these e-cigarettes are unknown and untested.
Last year, DailyMail.com even discovered that a store just 250 meters from the FDA headquarters was selling illegal watermelon and bubblegum flavored vaporizers suitable for children.
The illicit vaping devices mostly came from the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Shenzhen.
Workers scan DC streets for traces of e-cigarettes and tobacco
Many lawmakers have taken note of the rise of the illegal market and have sent letters to the FDA requesting guidance on why they allow wholesale distribution of illicit products.
“Law-abiding American companies wait years, spend millions of dollars, and comply with strict restrictions on flavors and marketing to obtain FDA approval for their products,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. wrote to the commissioner of the FDA Robert M. Califf, MD in February.
“Meanwhile, unscrupulous Chinese companies are shipping containers full of illegal e-cigarettes into our country every day, right under the noses of the FDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).”
“The FDA’s attempts to enforce the law have proven wholly inadequate,” he continued.
Democrats have also become alarmed by the proliferation of illegal vaping devices.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also wrote a letter to Califf, saying, “there is absolutely no reason why the FDA continues to allow unauthorized e-cigarettes to remain on store shelves.”
“The FDA has the tools and authority to clean up the market of unauthorized products today, but instead the agency is giving free rein to dozens of vaping products that are harming the health of children in our country,” he continued. Durbin.
Other letter The article written by House lawmakers to the FDA highlighted the impact illegal vapes are having on young Americans.
“What concerns us deeply is that in 2023, 10 percent of high school students and 4.6 percent of high school students, or 2.1 million youth, used e-cigarettes,” the bipartisan coalition wrote of legislators.
They also mention that flavored nicotine vaping devices are banned in China.
“An estimated 90 percent of illicit vaping products without premarket authorization arrive in the United States from manufacturers in (China), where flavored vaping products have been banned since 2022 for the Chinese domestic market.” .
Elf Bar flavored vaping disposable e-cigarette products are displayed in a convenience store in June 2023. The FDA has announced fines for retailers selling the devices in February 2024.
In response to a request for comment, an FDA spokesperson sent DailyMail.com previous press releases from the agency regarding recent enforcement actions against illicit vapes.
It is unclear whether FDA Commissioner Califf has responded to lawmakers.
Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Dick Durbin did not respond to a request for comment.