Big Tobacco Is Back With A New Way to Addict Kids: Juul's Flavored E-Cigarettes

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https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/juul?utm_medium=ads-dcm&utm_source=1302266&utm_content=252077806-119527759&utm_campaign=anti-juul
Don’t let sweet-talking ads from Juul fool you – each Juul pod delivers the same amount of addictive nicotine as 20 cigarettes. It’s no wonder Marlboro-maker Altria spent $12.8 billion buying into Juul. Their mint, menthol, fruit, crème and mango flavors have fueled what the FDA warns is a “youth e-cigarette epidemic.”

It’s time to act: Stop flavored e-cigarettes and give our kids, parents and teachers a fighting chance.

• Youth e-cigarette use in the United States has skyrocketed to what the U.S. Surgeon General and the FDA have called “epidemic” levels
In 2018 alone, e-cigarette use among high school students rose by 78%, to 20.8% of students, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey. Altogether, more than 3.6 million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes – an increase of 1.5 million in one year. E-cigarettes are addicting a new generation of kids and threaten to reverse decades of progress in reducing youth tobacco use.

• The main cause of this epidemic is Juul, a sleek, high-tech e-cigarette that looks like a USB flash drive
Juul is small and easy to hide, comes in sweet flavors that entice kids and delivers a powerful nicotine hit. Educators and students report an alarming level of Juul use in middle and high schools across the country. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has stated, “There’s no question the Juul product drove a lot of the youth use

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https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6745a5.htm?s_cid=mm6745a5_w

Among high school students, current e-cigarette use increased from 1.5% (220,000 students) in 2011 to 20.8% (3.05 million students) in 2018 (p<0.001) (Figure). During 2017–2018, current e-cigarette use increased by 78% (from 11.7% to 20.8%, p<0.001). The proportion of current e-cigarette users who reported use on ≥20 of the past 30 days increased from 20.0% in 2017 to 27.7% in 2018 (p = 0.008). Among high school students, during 2017–2018, current use of any flavored e-cigarettes increased among current e-cigarette users (from 60.9% to 67.8%, p = 0.02); current use of menthol- or mint-flavored e-cigarettes increased among all current e-cigarette users (from 42.3% to 51.2%, p = 0.04) and current exclusive e-cigarette users (from 21.4% to 38.1%, p = 0.002).

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Current e-cigarette use increased considerably among U.S. middle and high school students during 2017–2018, reversing a decline observed in recent years and increasing overall tobacco product use (3). Moreover, during 2017–2018, frequent e-cigarette use increased among high school students. Although e-cigarettes have the potential to benefit adult smokers if used as a complete substitute for combustible tobacco smoking, the use of any form of tobacco product among youths, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe (1). The Surgeon General has concluded that e-cigarette use among youths and young adults is of public health concern; exposure to nicotine during adolescence can cause addiction and can harm the developing adolescent brain (1).

The rise in e-cigarette use during 2017–2018 is likely because of the recent popularity of e-cigarettes shaped like a USB flash drive, such as JUUL; these products can be used discreetly, have a high nicotine content, and come in flavors that appeal to youths (4). In September 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued more than 1,300 warning letters and civil money penalty fines to retailers who illegally sold e-cigarette products to minors, the majority of which were blu, JUUL, Logic, MarkTen XL, and Vuse; this was the largest coordinated enforcement effort in FDA’s history (5). Sustained implementation of proven population-based strategies, in coordination with the regulation of tobacco products by FDA, is key to reducing all forms of tobacco product use and initiation, including e-cigarettes, among U.S. youths (1).