Surgeon general warns of teen risks from vaping
WASHINGTON — Surgeon General Jerome Adams is taking aim at the best-selling electronic cigarette brand in the country, urging swift action to prevent Juul and similar vaping brands from addicting millions of teenagers.
In an advisory Tuesday, Adams said parents, teachers, health professionals and government officials must take “aggressive steps” to keep children from using e-cigarettes. Federal law bars the sale of e-cigarettes to those under 18.
For young people, “nicotine is dangerous, and it can have negative health effects,” Adams said. “It can impact learning, attention and memory, and it can prime the youth brain for addiction.”
Federal officials are scrambling to reverse a recent explosion in teen vaping that public health officials fear could undermine decades of declines in tobacco use. An estimated 3.6 million U.S. teens are now using e-cigarettes, representing 1 in 5 high school students and 1 in 20 middleschoolers, according to the latest federal figures.
Separate survey results released Monday showed twice as many high school students used e-cigarettes this year compared to last year.
E-cigarettes and other vaping devices have been sold in the U.S. since 2007, growing into a $6.6 billion business. Most devices heat a flavored nicotine solution into an inhalable vapor. They have been pitched to adult smokers as a lessharmful alternative to cigarettes, though there’s been little research on the longterm health effects or on whether they help people quit.
Even more worrisome, a growing body of research suggests that teens who vape are more likely to try regular cigarettes.
Adams singled out Silicon Valley startup Juul. The company leapfrogged over its larger competitors with online promotions portraying their small device as the latest high-tech gadget for hip, attractive young people.
Analysts now estimate the company controls more than 75 percent of the U.S. e-cigarette market.
The surgeon general’s advisory notes that each Juul cartridge, or pod, contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes.
Juul said in a statement that it shares the surgeon general’s goal: “We are committed to preventing youth access of Juul products.”