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The Food and Drug Administration is banning most fruit and mint-flavored nicotine vaping products in an effort to curb a surge in teen use, the agency said Thursday.

Under the new rule, which takes effect in 30 days, companies that do not stop the distribution the sweeter flavors that appeal to kids risk enforcement action, the FDA said. Companies are also at risk of regulatory action if their products target kids or if they fail to take “adequate measures” to prevent access to children. They’ll still be able to sell tobacco and menthol-flavored pods for the adults who use the products to quit smoking. 

“The United States has never seen an epidemic of substance use arise as quickly as our current epidemic of youth use of e-cigarettes,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement Thursday.

“HHS is taking a comprehensive, aggressive approach to enforcing the law passed by Congress, under which no e-cigarettes are currently on the market legally,” he said.

The FDA is specifically banning cartridge-based nicotine pods like Juul, allowing vape shops to continue selling tank-based flavored nicotine liquids, which require users to manually fill e-cigarettes.

The FDA’s decision comes amid a rise in teen e-cigarette use and a deadly lung illness linked to vaping that has taken the lives of 55 people across 27 states. The Trump administration was expected this week to issue a ban on flavored e-cigarette pods and flavored liquid nicotine products.

Azar told reporters on a call Thursday that the FDA’s decision to permit the continued sale of tobacco and menthol flavors was due to them being “less appealing” to kids.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey, mint and menthol were the second-most popular flavor behind fruit among high school teens. Fruity flavors represented the vast majority of e-cigarette sales in 2019.

Public health experts have long supported the administration’s goal of banning flavors that most appeal to children, but some fear that kids could end up switching to menthol once the fruity flavors are gone.

The ban has little to do with the vaping-related lung illnesses, administration officials said Thursday. Azar said the Trump administration sees the lung illnesses from vaping as a “separate issue” because most people sick are thought by public health officials to have smoke THC-based vaping products.

“No child should be using nicotine products,” officials repeatedly said on the call Thursday. 

The ban will have a limited impact on vaping industry leader Juul, which, under intense scrutiny, has already halted the sale of its flavors in the U.S., excluding menthol, Virginia tobacco and classic tobacco. It will likely be a blow to Juul rival, NJOY, which looked to benefit from Juul’s flavor retreat with the sale its own blueberry flavors in stores.

–CNBC’s Lauren Hirsch contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.