Depending on whom you ask, e-cigarettes are either a marvelous technology that could save thousands of lives by helping people quit
smoking or the cause of a scourge of nicotine addiction among teenagers.
Surprise! Both are right, and both should inform public health policy
on vaping.To get more news about
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There’s no question that the vaping industry has behaved in genuinely
outrageous ways. Last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey
filed a lawsuit accusing Juul, the nation’s largest e-cigarette
manufacturer, of pushing its vaping products to children. According to
internal company documents obtained by Healey’s office, Juul allegedly
bought advertising space on youth-oriented websites including
Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and the Cartoon Network and sought to recruit
celebrities with younger audiences, such as singer Miley Cyrus, model
and actress Cara Delevingne and actress Kristen Stewart, to promote
their products.
The lawsuit also claims the company rejected an advertising campaign
targeting adults in favor of another directed toward the “cool crowd.”
At one point, Juul employees allegedly raised concerns that models in
their ads looked too young, but the company used them anyway.
In response to the lawsuit, Juul insisted that attracting underage
smokers was never its goal and said in a statement that the company
intends to win “the trust of society by working cooperatively with
attorneys general, regulators, public health officials and other
stakeholders to combat underage use and transition adult smokers from
combustible cigarettes.”
Regardless of Juul’s intentions, the damage for youth nicotine users is
done. The portion of high school students who vape — an estimated 25
percent according to the latest data — has skyrocketed in recent years.
Scientists warn that nicotine in these products can affect brain
development and might make teens more likely to try traditional
cigarettes.
But the Massachusetts suit wasn’t the only vaping news last week: A new
study funded by the National Institutes of Health shows how the backlash
against vaping — specifically through taxes on e-cigarettes — could
have unintended consequences. Using data from 35,000 retailers
nationwide, the authors of the paper found that every 10 percent
increase in e-cigarette prices due to taxes reduced e-cigarette sales by
26 percent, but also increased traditional cigarette sales by 11
percent. While e-cigarettes come with their own toxins, and the
long-term effects of vaping are unknown, scientists generally agree that
traditional tobacco products come with far more toxins and carcinogens
(which is why some health experts consider cigarettes the deadliest
consumer product in history).
This isn’t the first study to suggest such a dangerous substitution
effect. Another paper from late last year found that Minnesota’s tax on
e-cigarettes, among the most severe in the nation, prevented an
estimated 32,400 adult smokers from quitting cigarettes. This is
important since, in response to the massive surge in vaping — especially
among teens — states have scrambled to issue their version of a tax on
the products. At least 20 states and the District have done so.
