American Heart Association, FDA comment on continued popularity of e-cigarettes
E-cigarettes and similar tobacco products continue to be popular among children and young adults, according to new data from the 2021 National Young Tobacco Survey.
The findings, released Sep. 30 by the FDA and CDC, highlight that popularity. For example, 43.6% of high school students and 17.2% of middle school students reported using e-cigarettes on 20 or more of the past 30 days. In addition, 27.6% of high school students 8.3% of middle school students said they used e-cigarettes daily.
The American Heart Association (AHA) published a statement about these latest statistics.
“The findings released today show that even as the COVID pandemic kept millions of kids home from school, it didn’t keep more than 2 million middle and high school students from using e-cigarettes,” according to the AHA.
The AHA said "immediate action" is necessary to "prevent the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and other tobacco products."
“This report is a clear call to action for the FDA to reject the remaining premarket tobacco applications for flavored products, regulate synthetic nicotine and at long last prohibit the sale of any flavored tobacco product," the organization added. "In the meantime, states and communities should continue their groundbreaking efforts to pass laws and policies that remove flavored tobacco products, including menthol products, from the market."
The FDA shared its own thoughts on these findings.
“These data highlight the fact that flavored e-cigarettes are still extremely popular with kids,” Mitch Zeller, JD, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a press release. “And we are equally disturbed by the quarter of high school students who use e-cigarettes and say they vape every single day. The FDA continues to take action against those who sell or target e-cigarettes and e-liquids to kids, as seen just this year by the denial of more than one million premarket applications for flavored electronic nicotine delivery system products. It is critical that these products come off the market and out of the hands of our nation’s youth.”
The FDA noted that the use of any tobacco products by young people is dangerous because they contain nicotine, a highly addictive agent that can harm the developing adolescent brain and elevate the risk for future addiction to other drugs.