Smoking 2.0 update: new restrictions on electronic cigarette companies
By Allison Dummel
I n The Lowell’s May 2018 issue, reporter Kate Green wrote a feature about electronic cigarette use at Lowell. On Sept. 12, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement concerning the regulation of electronic cigarette companies.
In response to growing teen electronic cigarette use, the FDA is giving the 5 biggest retailers of electronic cigarettes (Juul, Vuse, MarkTen XL, Blu and Logic) 60 days to create plans to prevent youth vaping. According to the FDA, these five brands currently account for 97 percent of electronic cigarette sales.
In a survey put out by The Lowell, eight percent of students said that they had used electronic cigarettes that semester. Only 22.7 percent of Lowell students surveyed said that they thought vaping was as damaging as regular cigarettes, but cases of teen nicotine addiction have grown so much the FDA called youth vaping an “epidemic.”
If these brands cannot submit an acceptable plan to the FDA within the time limit, the FDA could ban their products’ sale in the United States. The FDA is also sending more than 1,100 warning letters to retailers for the illegal sale of electronic cigarettes to minors.
Read the full statement here.
