FDA needs to go beyond planned vaping flavor ban
The announcement earlier this month by the Trump administration that the Food and Drug Administration would being work to ban all flavors used in e-cigarettes — also known as vape pens — is a welcome response to the explosion in vaping by youths and young adults.
The makers of e-cigarettes and vaping devices have long relied on the claims that their products are a practical alternative to traditional tobacco products and can help people quit smoking because they deliver nicotine but reduce the exposure to a range of cancer-causing and other toxic chemicals.
At the same time, however, the makers of vaping products, such as the industry-leading Juul, have built a growing market around younger customers by developing and promoting a cornucopia of flavors focused on fruit, candy, desserts and the like. Ask yourself: How many adults trying to quit smoking would enjoy the rich, full flavor of something called “fruity pebbles”?
Juul earlier removed its flavored products from retail shelves, but they’ve quickly been replaced by products from other makers, and Juul continues to sell its flavored pods — including mango, creme and fruit — on its website. Online customers are required only to affirm they are over the age of 21 by clicking a box.
The result: Just a year ago, the FDA’s commissioner at that time, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, admitted the agency wasn’t prepared for “what I now believe is an epidemic of e-cigarette use among teenagers,” then as many as 3.6 million U.S. youths.
That growth has not slowed since. Recent data collected by federal health officials show that more than 1 in 4 high school students reported vaping this year, up from 1 in 5 in 2018. And more than 80 percent of youths using e-cigarettes surveyed said they picked their product because it “comes in flavors I like.”
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