About a month ago, the FDA approved VuseVapor electronic cigarette devices for sale. Vaping is a relatively new phenomenon. When I was in 10th grade of high school I saw a ‘JUUL’ for the first time at a party. I had no idea, at the time, that vaping would become the new normal. Quickly I became surrounded by it and still am, almost six years later.
“Vapes”, or e-cigarettes, are electronic devices that create a vapor consisting of nicotine, flavors, and other chemicals. A disturbing number of U.S. adolescents are addicted to nicotine because of the availability of vapes. This epidemic needs to be addressed by the U.S. government, and the FDA is doing the opposite of what they should be to take control of this issue.
Vaping is marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking. It is made out to be a device that was created in order to help nicotine addicts. However, E-cigarettes encourage teens to become nicotine users. Many vapes that are sold come in a wide array of flavors such as watermelon and gummy bear and come in sleak designs which appeal to kids.
“The FDA has spent years considering different regulatory measures concerning what kind of e-cigarettes could legally be sold in the U.S., ostensibly to minimize the risks associated with them,” (Shapiro, Susan). But now the FDA has contradicted themselves by approving VuseVapes for sale.
“The U.S. surgeon general reported that e-cigarette use among high school students increased by 900 percent from 2011 to 2015, and the CDC found in 2020 that 19.6 percent of high school students and 4.7 percent of middle school students had admitted to e-cigarette use. In 2018, the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory about teen use of e-cigarettes, labelling it an epidemic,” (Shapiro, Susan).
Since vapes have been confirmed as better than traditional cigarettes, I must acknowledge that vapes aren’t all bad. If they purely served the purpose of helping cigarette addicts, then this would be a different story. But we cannot ignore the larger and quite harmful impact vapes are having on teens.
The FDA said that with vaping “the potential benefit to smokers who switch completely or significantly reduce their cigarette use, would outweigh the risk to youth,” (Shapiro, Susan). So essentially the FDA is saying that is okay teens are getting addicted to vaping because vapes help adult nicotine users? This argument is quite hard to make sense of.
Vaping has not been around long enough for scientists to know the exact long term health effects. Still, some studies have been conducted. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, vapes are bad for your heart and lungs, and are just as addictive as traditional cigarettes.
Not long ago, the CDC released frightening news about the negative health effects of vaping. “It confirmed in 2020 that at least 68 people who used e-cigarettes, both legally and illegally, had died,” (Shapiro, Susan).
A question I often ask myself: would such a large number of teens be nicotine users if e-cigarettes weren’t so widely available? The answer is no.
It is frustratingly counterproductive and confusing for the FDA to approve a product because it's not ‘as bad’ as smoking cigarettes. It sends a message to the public that some vapes are okay to smoke.
The use of vapes by kids will likely go up because the FDA approved this product for sale.
This topic is really important to bring up because of how relavent this issue is in the public eye right now. As a college student I can say that I don't know a single friend that has used a vaping device. Companies such as JUUL brand themselves as a option for smokers to quit, but we all know how BS that is. Their main target and demographic is teenagers and younger people in their 20s. To stem the epidemic we are already facing the FDA must step in and regulate these companies.
This was so interesting to read! I had never done much research into vaping but like yourself, I feel as though I have been surrounded by JUULs since the 9th or 10th grade. When I’ve asked exactly what it is/does, I am always confronted with the response, “it's better for you than cigarettes.” As you mentioned, this statement may in fact be completely true, however it is used as a distraction from the very real addictive epidemic between youth and teens. I agree that it may not have been the best decision for the FDA to approve this addictive product on the basis that it is generally less harmful than another addictive product. This does in fact lead to a…
Agghh this is such an interesting topic. I totally agree that e-cigarettes and vapes are marketed to teens. A vast array of flavors and colorful packaging hardly says, sole for the purpose of aiding with your tobacco addiction. Also, the market frankly wouldn’t be as bid. Vapes in such a mass array wouldn’t sell out or hold full shelves at liquor stores if they were solely purchased by people who wanted to quit smoking. They are sold to a completely independent audience. An audience that is being raised with neurological dependency and addiction. It’s scary to think of being the generation that sees the long term affects of vaping. I have little doubt in my mind that we’ll be telling…
This blog really caught my attention because I also agree that this issue with vaping needs to be addressed. Many people think that vaping is a lot safer than cigarettes but I believe that both are equally as bad because without people realizing it's still messing up their lungs. I feel Like we are just in an era were vaping is a very popular thing and people don't see the bad of it. Many teens are using vapes and they are getting addicted to the nicotine.
I find this blog really interesting, since we all thought this epidemic would have gone away by now. The fact that people who started vaping during their early teens are still addicted to vapes and willingly spend thousands every year to fuel their addiction is proof of how addictive nicotine is.