Kentucky AG Coleman says the state will be cracking down on Chinese vapes targeting kids

Kentucky GOP Attorney General Russell Coleman said Tuesday that the state will be cracking down on vapes from China that are targeting minors.

"This is a real concern to me as a dad of young kids, as well as the attorney general, and that is enforcing the laws as passed by the General Assembly, as regards to cracking down on these fly-by-night substances that are coming in," Coleman said on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "These devices that are coming into stores all over Kentucky."

Last month, Coleman requested a partnership with the Trump administration to find out ways to protect kids from illegal Chinese e-cigarettes.

In a press release, Coleman said that the manufacturers of these e-cigarettes often don't submit applications to the Food and Drug Administration to review before selling the products in the U.S.

"We're seeing them all over the United States," he said. "We don't know what that supply chain looks like. We don't know what they hold in terms of substances."

He said the marketing of these Chinese vapes is not targeted at adults, but to children.

"They look like Spongebob," Coleman said. "They are not designed for an older demographic. They are designed with their flavors. They are designed to attract kids. And we have no idea what is in those, and so we'll be enforcing the laws passed by our legislature to restrict those aggressively."