[ad_1]
The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it was attacking manufacturers of some of the most popular devices. Companies have less than 60 days to show that they can keep their products out of reach of minors.
In a statement released on Wednesday, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said teens' use of e-cigarettes had reached an "epidemic proportion" and denounced some of the biggest names in the industry, including Juul. He says companies are not doing enough to limit the use of e-cigarettes by minors.
Last summer, appearing on NPR's Morning Edition, Gottlieb said that electronic cigarettes could be beneficial for those already addicted to nicotine.
"I think there is a presumption in the marketplace that these products do not have all the risks associated with smoking, which is the smoking of traditional cigarettes. I think we believe in the FDA that there is probably some truth to that. But we must demonstrate this through an appropriate regulatory process. "
The problem, according to the FDA and smoking experts, is that vaping, the use of electronic cigarettes, is particularly interesting for young people for a number of reasons.
Trey Brown is School Resource Officer for the Oro Valley Police Department. He says that one of the reasons is that students can easily hide them.
"They are pretty easy to hide. Some of them actually look like USB ports. They can be hidden anywhere. In the backpack of the child They can put them in their pockets, put them in their socks.
Another reason why vaping is so popular among teens is that the electronic liquid comes in flavors such as chewing gum and cinnamon, which some say is aimed at hooking up young people.
Judith Gordon, a professor and associate dean of research at the University of Arizona's College of Nursing, says that e-cigarette makers use marketing tactics that are reminiscent of the days of traditional cigarettes.
"The companies that make the products try to make them attractive to use, trying to make them safe and trying to make them cool, the way that smoking was perceived as cool," Gordon said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control's Youth Risk Behavior Monitoring System, in 2017, 16% of high school students in Arizona used e-cigarettes, more than double the number of high school students who smoked cigarettes. Gordon says it's problematic.
"Nicotine is nicotine, wherever it comes from. This can come from a cigarette. This can come from the e-liquid you are vape. It can come from a smokeless tobacco or any other type of tobacco. The dependency potential is the same.
Nicotine addiction is not even the only danger. Gordon says that not only do the chemicals in e-liquids, often called e-juices, produce toxic chemicals when heated, but that some of the flavors themselves also contain toxic chemicals. A study by the University of Rochester's medical center found that the chemicals found in some of the most popular flavors – including cinnamon, vanilla, and butter – were toxic to white blood cells.
For adolescents, whose brains are not fully developed, the concerns are greater.
"There is an emerging literature to show that children who start smoking are more likely to become addicted and become regular vapers and eventually start using conventional cigarettes," says Gordon.
In addition to manufacturers, the FDA also targets retailers. Earlier this year, in the largest coordinated coercive effort in the FDA's history, the agency issued more than 1,300 warning letters, in addition to fines imposed on retailers who illegally sold Juul and other electronic cigarettes to minors. There were more than a dozen retailers in Arizona.
Some pro-vaping organizations say that's a good move on the part of the FDA. Dave Morris is vice president of the Arizona Smoke Free Business Alliance, which brings together vape companies of all sizes. He says that he does not want to attract teens to his products.
"Everything we can do to keep our products out of the reach of children is obviously good for young people, but it's also good for our industry because every time such things happen, our industry looks bad.
The minimum age of selling tobacco and electronic cigarettes in Arizona is 18 years old. Tucson City Council is considering raising the age of these products to 21 years.
Source link
