The variety of U.S. children who’re utilizing e-cigarettes has continued to tumble, new federal knowledge present, prompting authorities well being officers to declare an incremental victory of their struggle towards youth tobacco use.
Round 6% of center and highschool college students used vapes in 2024, down from 8% final 12 months, and a document excessive of 20% in 2019, based on a survey launched Thursday by the FDA and the CDC. The vape model Juul fueled this surge, however has since receded in recognition after FDA actions and authorized challenges.
Public well being officers beforehand struggled to attribute that decline to fewer children vaping, as a result of Covid-19 pandemic disrupting knowledge assortment. This 12 months, although, the Meals and Drug Administration and Facilities for Illness Management are celebrating the drop.
“I need to be unequivocally clear that this continued decline in e-cigarette use amongst our nation’s youth is a monumental public well being win,” mentioned Brian King, director of the FDA’s Middle for Tobacco Merchandise.
The information have been collected via the Nationwide Youth Tobacco Survey, a questionnaire distributed to center and excessive schoolers throughout the nation every year after which analyzed by the FDA and CDC. The survey has requested about e-cigarette use since 2011.
King and Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of the CDC’s Workplace on Smoking and Well being, credited the decline to anti-smoking instructional campaigns coordinated by each the companies. King additionally famous the FDA’s efforts to close down unlawful gross sales of vapes, together with a bevy of warning letters despatched to retailers promoting Elf Bars and Esco Bars final 12 months. The preferred e-cigarette model amongst children is Elf Bar, with round 36% of e-cig customers itemizing it as their vape of selection.
Outdoors consultants have been heartened by the continued decline, however famous that round 1.6 million children are nonetheless vaping. The FDA has struggled to punish each producers and distributors for promoting unapproved merchandise, with 1000’s of unlawful e-cigarettes remaining in the marketplace.
“It’s encouraging information that youth e-cigarette use has fallen sharply,” Yolonda Richardson, CEO of the Marketing campaign for Tobacco-Free Youngsters, mentioned in an announcement. “Regardless of this progress, youth e-cigarette use stays a critical public well being drawback in the US… Related federal companies should step up their enforcement efforts to clear the market of all unlawful e-cigarettes.”
The companies additionally requested children about their use of nicotine pouches like Zyn. Social media influencers have helped enhance demand for the merchandise, with father or mother firm Philip Morris Worldwide predicting it would sell 580 million cans this 12 months. In January, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) requested the FDA and Federal Commerce Fee to probe the corporate to stop it from “locking its sights on younger children.”
Nicotine pouches like Zyn don’t appear to have gained a lot traction with youth primarily based on the survey. About 1.8% of youngsters reported utilizing pouches in 2024, in comparison with 1.5% in 2023.
“In some methods, we’d have anticipated that to be going up sooner than it has,” mentioned Kenneth Warner, a public well being knowledgeable on the College of Michigan. “It might nonetheless catch on. They’re nonetheless comparatively novel.”
Richardson expressed concern that use of the pouches may develop given their kid-friendly flavors, on-line presence, and talent for use inconspicuously. King mentioned the FDA continues to be involved about nicotine pouch use amongst children and can proceed to regulate it.
The preliminary outcomes of the survey revealed on Thursday don’t embrace knowledge on conventional cigarette use amongst college students. In 2023, simply 1% of center schoolers and about 2% of excessive schoolers mentioned they smoked cigarettes.
