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Tag: electronic cigarettes

  • FDA Discusses Using Drug Therapy To Help Teens Quit Vaping

    FDA Discusses Using Drug Therapy To Help Teens Quit Vaping

    The FDA recently held a public hearing to discuss the vaping epidemic among teens. 

    Many consider vaping to be a big problem, and many still don’t realize its potential harm. Now the FDA is so concerned about the popularity of vaping, they’re even considering drug therapy to help wean young people off vaping.

    Matthew L. Myers, who is the president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told CNN, “The FDA has concluded that the level of addiction it is seeing among youthful e-cigarette users is so disturbing and so unprecedented that it needs to at least ask whether we need a solution that goes beyond what we ever did with cigarettes.”

    Even with the partial government shutdown in effect, the FDA held a public hearing on Friday, January 18, to address the problem. One of the biggest problems with the vaping epidemic among young people is that more research needs to be done. There’s a different kind of chemistry that goes into vaping, and previous research on teens and cigarette addiction clearly doesn’t apply the same way.

    As Dr. Susanne Tanski, who is an associate professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine, explained, “Clinicians urgently require new solutions to safely and effectively help stop [adolescents] using these and all tobacco products for good. There is unfortunately virtually no data on how to treat an adolescent with e-cigarette dependence.”

    But then the conversation switched to a different tactic, which is trying to keep young people from starting vaping at all. Tanski conceded that “preventing youth use in the first place should be FDA’s primary goal. We must all recognize that if an adolescent has developed a nicotine addiction as a result of vaping, we’ve already failed.”

    Several teens who got hooked on vaping also spoke at the public hearing. One teen first started Juuling in eighth grade, and he stated, “I see so many of my friends who had the same problem I did … and have no idea how to stop it.”

    One possible solution that was proposed at this meeting was having the FDA conduct a “pre-market review” of e-cigarettes, which would include a ban on flavors, one of the most appealing factors of e-cigarettes to young people.

    And while medication is being considered to help wean adolescents off vaping, non-drug therapy was strongly urged at this public hearing as well.

    Nonprofit tobacco control group Truth Initiative has a program that helps young people quit through text messaging. An executive for Truth Initiative said in a statement, “E-cigarette users don’t identify as smokers. They have different barriers to quitting, and, especially in the case of teens and young adults, many want an anonymous way to go about quitting without involving their parents or friends, which texting provides.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • FDA May Ban Flavored E-Cig Products From Convenience Stores

    FDA May Ban Flavored E-Cig Products From Convenience Stores

    If the ban becomes a reality, places like 7-Eleven, Circle K, Shell and Mobil would no longer carry flavored e-cig products.

    Continuing its crusade to push back on “epidemic” levels of young people vaping, the FDA is now considering whether flavored e-cigarette products should be limited to being sold in vaping shops.

    This would mean that convenience stores and gas stations like 7-Eleven, Circle K, Shell and Mobil would no longer carry flavored e-cig products.

    These four merchants were caught up in a nationwide undercover sweep over the summer that resulted in 1,300 warning letters from the FDA to retailers illegally selling e-cigarette products to minors.

    “We’re looking at what can be sold in brick-and-mortar stores and whether or not flavored products can be sold in regular stores like 7-Eleven and a truck stop and a gas station, or whether or not flavored products on the market should be confined to adult vaping shops, which generally tend to do a better job of checking ID,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a recent interview.

    The FDA has been cracking down on e-cigarette makers and merchants based on the concern that vaping is becoming too accessible to middle- and high-schoolers.

    According to federal figures cited by Gottlieb, in 2017, use of e-cigarettes among high schoolers increased by 77%, and by 50% among middle schoolers.

    “We see clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion, and we must adjust certain aspects of our comprehensive strategy to stem this clear and present danger,” said Gottlieb in September news release. “We cannot allow a whole generation to become addicted to nicotine.”

    At that time, the FDA requested that five major e-cigarette brands—Juul, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu and Logic—submit plans to “immediately and substantially reverse these trends” of young people vaping.

    They were warned that if they do not comply within 60 days, the agency may require the companies to “revise their sales and marketing practices, to stop distributing products to retailers who sell to kids and to stop selling some or all of their flavored e-cigarette products until they clear the application process,” CNBC reported at the time.

    In the recent interview, Gottlieb said that so far the FDA has met with Juul, Altria (MarkTen) and Reynolds (Vuse).

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • FDA Cracks Down On Top E-Cig Brands To Curb Teen Vaping Epidemic

    FDA Cracks Down On Top E-Cig Brands To Curb Teen Vaping Epidemic

    Around 1,300 warning letters have been sent to retailers of e-cigarettes found to be illegally selling e-cigarette products to minors.

    The Food and Drug Administration, concerned about the rising numbers of teenagers who “vape,” is cracking down on major e-cigarette brands to try and stop this trend.

    In a press release issued on Wednesday (Sept. 12), the FDA announced that it is requesting major brands—JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu, and Logic—to submit plans to “immediately and substantially reverse these trends” of young people vaping.

    If they do not comply within 60 days, the agency “may require the companies to revise their sales and marketing practices, to stop distributing products to retailers who sell to kids and to stop selling some or all of their flavored e-cigarette products until they clear the application process,” according to CNBC.

    The latest crackdown is the result of a nationwide undercover sweep over the summer. Since then, 1,300 warning letters have been sent to retailers of e-cigarettes found to be illegally selling e-cigarette products to minors.

    The vast majority of the violations were for the illegal sale of JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu and Logic—which account for over 97% of the U.S. e-cigarette market.

    Initially, e-cigarettes were touted as a less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes for people who want to quit. But growing use among young people is now a concern for the FDA.

    “In enabling a path for e-cigarettes to offer a potentially lower-risk alternative for adult smokers, we won’t allow the current trends in youth access and use to continue, even if it means putting limits in place that reduce adult uptake of these products,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in the press release.

    “We see clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion, and we must adjust certain aspects of our comprehensive strategy to stem this clear and present danger,” Gottlieb declared, going on to say that promoting smoking cessation can’t come “at the expense of kids.”

    “We cannot allow a whole new generation to become addicted to nicotine,” he added.

    In the coming weeks, the FDA said it will take additional action under its Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan, and ramp up enforcement of the illegal sale of these products to kids.

    View the original article at thefix.com