Vaping Policy Targets Minors, Based On Iffy Evidence, And Winds Up Hitting Adults

Jeffrey A. SingerReports in 2019 ofe ‐​cigarette vaping associated lung injury (EVALI) in teen and adolescent vapers addedmomentum to the alreadypopular idea of banning flavored vaping cartridges, very popular with young vapers. In January 2020 the Food and Drug Administration ordered all companies tocease manufacturing flavored vaping cartridges.It has been illegal to sell e ‐​cigarettes to anyone under age 18 since 2016. The age was raised to21 for tobacco and e ‐​cigarettes in December 2019. This, of course, has not prevented many youth from obtaining e ‐​cigarettes and cartridges on the black market.The movement to keep teens away from e ‐​cigarettes stems from the belief that they are a gateway to tobacco smoking. A 2018 study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco suggested teen vapers progressed to tobacco. However, University of South Dakota researchers questioned the methodology of that study, claiming the relationship between teen vaping and tobacco smoking can be traced to shared risk factors for tobacco use. Their ownstudy, published in April 2020, concluded:Electronic cigarettes may have offset conventional smoking among US adolescents between 2010 and 2018 by maintaining the total nicotine use prevalence and diverting them from more harmful conventional smoking. Additionally, electronic cigarette users appear to initiate at older ages relative to conventional smokers, which is associated with lower risk.A syste...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs