Fuming over youth smoking inaction

The issue: The genie is finally out of the bottle — along with a considerable cloud of smoke. As the vaping trend has expanded in recent years, it’s taken a while for legislation to catch up. As more adults take note of how teenagers are embracing vaping, battle lines are being drawn. While e-cigarettes gained attention as a tool to break the tobacco habit, others see them as a gateway to more harmful addictions.

What’s new: During the recent General Assembly Session, Connecticut explored joining a handful of other states in seeking to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21. But money talked — again — and won the argument. As stores objected to losing millions of dollars in sales, lawmakers also weighed the projected loss of $5 million in sales taxes in the first year. The bill was stopped cold.

What we wrote: “Big Tobacco faced marketing challenges of its own when it was banned from network television, eventually stooping to such lows as the infamous “Joe Camel” cartoon ad. But vaping thrives in this stealth era of viral marketing. Try Googling “vape marketing strategies” and you’ll encounter ideas that will leave the bitter aftertaste of a three-pack-a-day habit.

The adults are still playing catchup with the challenges of e-cigarettes a decade after they hit the U.S. market. Yes, they helped many people kick the tobacco habit. But they can also be starter kits for kids, affecting brain development and leading to traditional tobacco products and cardiovascular disease. Jan. 4, 2018

“Vaping may not seem as dangerous as grandpa’s cancer sticks, but it hardly falls into the category of a healthy habit. If you don’t think vaping is rising in popularity, you haven’t been on a campus recently.” April 12, 2018

What’s next: Addressing the perils of ecigarettes won’t become a reality until the conversation about it becomes more addictive. That finally seems to be happening in schools. Danbury High School Principal Dan Donovan reports that “vaping incidents are up 49 percent

More lawmakers and educators need to raise their voices for the future health of our youth. This genie won’t go back in the bottle on its own.

over last year.”

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning last month for retailers, including ones that are exclusively online, not to sell Juul products to anyone under 18 and to surrender marketing documents so the agency could review if children are being targeted. Juul is a device that resembles a sleek stretchedout flash drive, easily hidden from teachers.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal seized the moment to call on the FDA to do more, to halt the sale of “kid-friendly flavored vaping products.”

Those would be the ones with flavors such as cotton candy that are inhaled from what look like 21st Century PEZ dispenser. We support Blumenthal’s urgency, given that the FDA declared last summer that it would delay its decision until 2022.

More lawmakers and educators need to raise their voices for the future health of our youth. This genie won’t go back in the bottle on its own.