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US health officials are sounding the alarm on the increase in electronic cigarette consumption among teens, calling the epidemic problem and ordering manufacturers to reverse trend or bring out their flavored products.
The warning from the Food and Drug Administration, released on Wednesday, cited recent data indicating a sharp increase in the use of nicotine hand products in minors, including Juul and others.
This marks a change in the tone of the agency on electronic cigarettes. Since last year, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and other federal officials have discussed e-cigarettes as a potential tool to deter adult smokers from smoking, although this benefit has not been proved.
But Gottlieb said in a speech at FDA headquarters that he had failed to predict the current epidemic of youth addiction, mainly due to flavored products.
"The worrying and accelerated trajectory of use that we see in young people and the pathway that leads to addiction must stop," Gottlieb told agency staff and reporters. "It's just not tolerable."
Electronic cigarettes are vapor emitting devices that have become a multibillion dollar industry in the United States, despite little research on their long-term effects, including their ability to help smokers quit. They are generally considered a less dangerous alternative to regular cigarettes. But health officials have warned that nicotine in e-cigarettes is harmful for brain development.
Fruit flavors
They usually contain nicotine and sometimes aromas such as fruit, mint or chocolate.
Health advocates worry about the popularity of vaping products in children and the potential impact on smoking rates in the future. A report commissioned by the government in January found "substantial evidence" that young people who use electronic cigarettes are more likely to try cigarettes.
Gottlieb cited unpublished federal data and research that he says will be released in the coming months.
"We have not foreseen the magnitude of what has become one of our greatest challenges," he said in prepared remarks. "The setback and the data we have now fully reveal these trends."
In June, a government study found that teenage vape use seemed to hold up last year. Some experts have been cautious about the results. According to analysts' estimates, they noted that the investigation was not specifically about Juul, an elegant and highly marketed electronic cigarette brand that has exploded in the market and accounts for 70% of sales in the United States.
"I think it has become clear to the FDA that if it does not tackle this issue, the use of these products by children across the country will nullify decades of progress," said Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. His group and several other medical and anti-smoking groups are suing the FDA for having decided to delay the federal review of most cases.
Electronic cigarettes
Under the regulations developed by the Obama administration, manufacturers were required to submit most of the products under review by August 2018. But last year, Gottlieb said that "we are not going to be able to do that. it would postpone the deadline until 2022. The agency and the industry needed more time to prepare.
The decision has been criticized by anti-tobacco advocates who say that electronic cigarette manufacturers are targeting children with candy and fruit flavors and aggressive marketing.
Under Wednesday's announcement, the five largest electronic cigarette manufacturers will have 60 days to develop plans to reverse the minor use of their products. The companies sell Vuse, Blu, Juul, MarkTen XL and Logic electronic cigarette brands, which account for 97% of US electronic cigarette sales, according to the FDA.
Juul, based in San Francisco, said she was striving to prevent the use of her products by minors, but added that the flavors could help adult smokers quit.
"By working together, we think we can help adult smokers while preventing access to minors," the company said in a statement.
The FDA has also announced 1,300 warning letters and fines to online and traditional stores that illegally sold Juul and other electronic cigarettes to minors.
Gottlieb criticized the way electronic cigarette companies treated the use of their products by minors, claiming that they had considered it "a public relations challenge rather than seriously considering their obligations. legal ".
"I am here to tell them today that this prior approach is over," he said.
– AP
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