Keller and Heckman Files Amicus Brief

Eric Gotting and Azim Chowdhury, partners at Keller and Heckman, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in support of Avail Vapor’s writ of certiorari petitioning the SCOTUS to review the 4th Circuit’s decision to uphold the Food and Drug Administration’s marketing denial order of Avail’s premarket tobacco product application for its nontobacco-flavored e-liquids, according to a post on The Continuum of Risk.

The brief, filed on behalf of a group of public health experts, is intended to provide relevant scientific background on comparative health impacts of electronic nicotine-delivery system (ENDS) products with combustible cigarettes. The brief argues that ENDS are, beyond reasonable doubt, much safer than cigarettes; ENDS help adult smokers quit and can reach many adults who would not otherwise quit smoking; ENDS flavors are important to adults trying to quit smoking; youth vaping has declined markedly since 2019, with most youth vaping being infrequent, nonaddictive and temporary, and more frequent and intense vaping generally limited to adolescents who are otherwise likely to smoke; young people do not generally use the refillable tank devices sold in vape shops but instead use more mass-market products; claims that vaping is a gateway to smoking are based on a misunderstanding of the evidence; and because smoking and vaping are linked, measures like e-liquid flavor bans can cause more smoking or other damaging unintended consequences.