The American Lung Association's "State of Tobacco Control" report released on Wednesday called for increased enforcement in order to curb the growing teen vaping epidemic, which it blamed on the failure of state and federal government to keep children away from e-cigarettes, according to NBC News.
The ALA said the federal government was not doing enough in its 17th annual report which said tobacco is still the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S., killing 480,000 people every year with 16 million more living with a tobacco-related illness.
The report particularly rebuked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration due to "a lack of action" on the vaping epidemic, according to Thomas Carr, an author of the new report and national director of policy at the American Lung Association.
The report said the FDA's inaction was "putting the lives and health of Americans at risk," while citing the "staggering 78% increase among high school students and e-cigarette use in 2017-18."
Regulating the e-cigarette industry is the responsibility of the FDA, but the report said more than 20% of high school students are currently using e-cigarettes
The boom in vaping "led both the US surgeon general and FDA commissioner to call teen e-cigarette use an 'epidemic,' " Carr added. "That is a direct result of lack of regulation of the products."
The FDA previously said it would regulate e-cigarettes in 2011, when e-cigarette use was only 1.5% among high school students.
But the federal agency waited until 2016, when it established 18 as the minimum sales age, along with requirements for retailers and establishing standards for manufacturers.
The FDA would not comment specifically on the ALA's report but supplied a general response to CNN which said: "In the last year alone, the agency has advanced work to render cigarettes minimally or non-addictive, announced historic plans to ban menthol in cigarettes and cigars, and is exploring additional product standards."
But Carr said even though, "They've made a lot of announcements this [past] year, but there hasn't been a lot of concrete action. Yes, there has been an investigation of [e-cigarette giant] Juul, but that hasn't led to a lot of meaningful policy change."
He said the government's lack of action has "emboldened" the tobacco industry, which has already been "very aggressive" in opposing or delaying control measures.
"They spent over $22 million opposing tobacco tax ballot measures in Montana and South Dakota, for example. If you know the populations of Montana and South Dakota, that's a lot of money in those states. They clearly think tobacco taxes will reduce smoking among kids and adults."
"FDA regulations of tobacco products is how well they're implementing the 2009 law that gave them authority over the manufacture, marketing, and sale of tobacco products and also whether Congress is providing the funding to accomplish that," Carr said.
The report praised the media campaigns led by the federal government but said the quit-smoking programs, taxation, and regulation policies all needed great improvements.
The report also included five grades for each state which includes: tobacco program funding, smoke-free air, taxes, access to cessation, and "Tobacco 21."
Even the top-rated states did not get approval in every category, while the four worst performing states scored Fs across the board in Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, and Virginia.
More than forty states and the District of Columbia all received failing grades regarding their prevention programs, with only half of the states and D.C. implementing smoke-free workplace policies.
Erika Sward, national assistant vice president for advocacy for the American Lung Association, said states needed to all raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 and remove all flavored e-cigarettes from the market to cut down on underage vaping.
The ALA's report comes shortly after FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb threatened to take the flavored e-cigarettes off the market if they did not stop targeting underage youth in their marketing and flavors.
Sward said the FDA could still do more, including forcing companies to go through an approval process, but it was not doing enough.
“As a result of the failure by the federal and state governments to act, the tobacco industry is on a resurgence,” and therefore maneuvering “to addict our kids,” Sward said.
Nicotine is a highly addictive substance and studies have shown it may be harder to quit smoking than using opiates or cocaine.
Studies have also shown nicotine can have an effect on the developing brain of teens and adolescents so health experts have been warning about the unknown dangers of teen vaping.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Steven Senne
