Of the more than 6,000 e-cigarette products estimated to be available for sale in the United States as of June 2024, only 39 had received authorization from the Food and Drug Administration as of December 2025. Every other product on the market is, by definition, illegal—subject to seizure and enforcement action under federal law. The gap between the size of the unauthorized market and the scale of the federal response is the subject of a March 2026 GAO report (GAO-26-107991) examining the Department of Justice’s enforcement record on unauthorized e-cigarettes.

H5N1 has been circulating in birds for years. The reason it is getting more attention now is specific and worth understanding clearly.

The virus crossed into cattle in the US in 2024 — an unexpected host jump that expanded the pool of potential human exposure significantly. Dairy farm workers have tested positive in multiple states. Most cases involved mild illness: eye irritation, respiratory symptoms, rapid recovery. No sustained human-to-human transmission has been documented. That last sentence is the most important one in any bird flu discussion, and it remains true as of now.