Public health groups and policymakers are reiterating concerns about a supposed youth vaping epidemic. State health departments and city councils are implementing strict policies on tobacco harm reduction products, and school districts are using funds from vape settlements to install detectors for e-cigarettes, reflecting concerns about youth vaping.
This is occurring despite a significant decrease in youth vaping. And unfortunately, this continued alarmism is hindering adult access to safer alternatives to cigarettes.
Brian King, the director of the Center for Tobacco Products at the Food and Drug Administration, stated last year that the agency would no longer use the term “epidemic,” many politicians and health groups continue to assert a crisis in youth vaping.
Webpages from the American Lung Association, last updated in September, ignore recent FDA statements, with the organization claiming that e-cigarette use among youth has reached “epidemic levels.”
In a recent hearing before the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, outdated studies were cited to advocate for bans. Similarly, lawmakers in Kansas City recently debated legislation to ban the sale of flavored tobacco and vapor products.
Additionally, school districts from Montgomery County, Maryland, to Pitt County, North Carolina, are installing electronic detectors (often in bathrooms) to monitor e-cigarette use among students. Many districts fund these measures with money received from lawsuits against e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL, which has settled more than 10,000 lawsuits since 2022.
Although using these settlement funds for vape detectors seems prudent, it overlooks that youth vaping is at its lowest level in a decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that 5.9 percent of U.S. middle and high school students were vaping — a dramatic 70.5 percent drop from students in 2019.
Meanwhile, adult use of e-cigarettes for quitting smoking or remaining smoke-free has risen. In 2023, 7.7 percent of adults used e-cigarettes — matching the same youth vaping rate from last year.
Globally, e-cigarettes are recognized as a valuable tool for helping people quit smoking traditional cigarettes. Health Canada states that adults who switch from smoking to vaping “reduce their exposure to the harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke” and that adults “may be more likely to quit smoking than those using nicotine replacement therapy.”
The New Zealand Ministry of Health has echoed this sentiment, determining that “vaping products are much less harmful than smoking tobacco.” In 2023, the United Kingdom’s Health Minister launched the “swap to stop” scheme, which distributed more than 1 million vapor devices to adults who were smoking.
However, in 2023, more than 30 million American adults were still smoking combustible cigarettes, mainly because U.S. health agencies and regulators continue to overlook the benefits of e-cigarettes. As of September, the FDA has authorized only 34 e-cigarette products, which is wholly insufficient to meet the needs of the more than 20 million adults who vape.
Furthermore, despite declines in youth e-cigarette use, the FDA persists in focusing on this dwindling number when rejecting hundreds of millions of e-cigarette applications — largely for flavored products.
Despite the hype, flavors are not the primary reason youths use vapes. According to the 2021 NYTS, 43.4 percent of youth who were vaping cited using them because they felt anxious, stressed and/or depressed, while only 13.7 percent cited flavors as a reason for use. In contrast, a 2018 survey of nearly 70,000 adult vapers found that the most common flavors among participants were fruit and dessert flavors.
Policymakers and health advocates should recognize the significant reduction in youth e-cigarette use rather than continue with prohibitive and stigmatizing policies. While concerns were justified in 2019, continuing these measures without considering the current low levels of youth vaping does a disservice to adults relying on e-cigarettes to stay smoke-free.
