There is growing concern among health officials in the US because of the growing number of teenagers vaping. According to officials, early this year, approximately 2.55 million high and middle-school students in the US were reported to have used e-cigarettes.
According to a survey carried out by the US FDA and the CDC between January 18 and May 31, a quarter of the surveyed students admitted to daily e-cigarette use.
FDA Centre for Tobacco Products Director Brian King said in a statement that teenage usage o e-cigarettes in the US is very high and a major concern that poses health risks to the country’s youth. Out of the students that indicated they use e-cigarettes, almost 855 stated that they use flavored versions, with more than 50% preferring disposable e-cigarettes.
Deirdre Kittner of the CDC smoking and health office said that the Study indicates that US youths are being tempted and bowed by the growing list of e-cigarette variety brands that deliver flavored nicotine.
Some of the most popular e-cigarette brands were British American Tobacco Plc’s Vuse or Hyde and Puff Bars. Surprisingly Juul Labs Inc’s e-cigarettes dropped from the top e-cigarette brands favored by adolescents.
In June, a federal court of appeal put a hold on an FDA ban on Juul’s E-cigarettes after Juul argued that the ban would cause it “irreparable harm.”
According to the poll, e-cigarette use has increased from the previous year but drastically decreased from levels in 2019 and 2020. However, the CDC advised that the results should not be compared to those from prior years due to a change in how the data was gathered.
Data were collected from students in a classroom setting who completed an online survey. In 2019 and 2020, data was collected the same way, and the number of students reported using e-cigarettes was 5.4 million and 3.6 million, respectively.
In 2021 the number of teens using e-cigarettes was 2.06 million, but most respondents took the survey remotely.