USA: the E-cigarette is a Hit Among Young People, and an American Authority Ignites

Let’s have look at the United States, where the e-cigarette is in the sights of an American health authority. In the question: its consumption has gone into fashion by young adolescents.

“An epidemic” is the expression used by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an American health authority, to name adolescents’ use of electronic cigarettes. On Wednesday, September 12, the US Federal Drug Administration ordered the implementation of more robust measures by vape manufacturers to stem the use of electronic cigarettes by minors in middle and high schools. They have sixty days to detail them. Otherwise, their products would likely be banned from sale.

Prohibited use of electronic cigarettes for minors

In France, the sale of e-cigarettes and their derivatives is prohibited to minors following the adoption of article 36 of the Hamon law of March 18, 2014. This prohibition covers all models of electronic cigarettes and all e-cigarettes, e-liquids, with or without nicotine. Across the Atlantic, the legal age to buy an electronic cigarette is 21. However, it is increasingly used by American teenagers. An alarming situation that pushes the FDA to adopt a reactive attitude that could jeopardize the sale of e-cigarettes. A very damaging possibility for a smoking cessation product whose effectiveness has been recommended and recognized by many specialized doctors!

This phenomenon affecting adolescents is explained in particular by a fashion generated by a famous brand of an electronic cigarette whose particularity is well known for its USB key shape and the possibility of recharging it on any computer. In three years, this young company established in San Francisco has even entered the everyday language of teenagers who are busy saying “we juule“.

Smoking cessation in young people: are we talking about it?

If the e-cigarette helps adults in their smoking cessation, it should not be found in the everyday language of young people and even less in their hands. Vaping professionals lament the fact that it is diverted from its primary use, which is smoking cessation. Moreover, professionals strongly advise against vaping to all those who have never smoked before and prohibit the entry of their site or their shop to minors. When we know that one tobacconist out of 10 asks for an identity document in France, we can question the effectiveness of the ban on the sale of classic cigarettes to minors and, simultaneously, the restrictive measures imposed on the vape but not tobacco.

Raising awareness among young people remains the ultimate weapon against smoking. Original campaigns are then launched aimed at teenagers. For example, in France, in 2010, the Ministry of Health and Sports and INPES (the National Institute for Prevention and Health Education) contacted Koji Morimoto, a famous Japanese animation director, and the Studios 4°C to make a video-manga: Attraction. Too isolated an example, and a lot of work remains to be done on the subject. In the meantime, French tobacconists still have a bright future ahead, just like American smoking.

Vaping in the United States: the American dream or not

Let’s not forget, that the classic cigarette lobby is very present in the United States and is an integral part of the American way of life. We cannot say the same for the vape whose fragrant scents wickedly tickle the nostrils of tobacco manufacturers who have always had a flair for their business. Even with hollow noses and full pockets, the tobacco industry experienced an unprecedented crisis (lawsuits, tobacco control) that lasted nearly twenty years. Today, the tobacco industry (game) is undergoing a flourishing expansion, which far exceeds that of other developed countries. Its unexpected recovery is explained by consolidation in the tobacco industry. The law in force since 2009 called “Tabacco Control Act War” aimed at preventing smoking has had a perverse effect. This law, nicknamed by its detractors the “Marlboro Protection Act,” contains measures so strict that newcomers seeking to position themselves in the tobacco market do not succeed. Competition is fierce against the two giants Marlboro and Altria (formerly Philip Morris Companies Inc.), who thus dictate prices and now control more than 80% of the market.

No offense to these tobacco giants, but the vape continues to be demonized. The excellent media coverage of an American study published last January massively conveyed the received idea that the electronic cigarette is as dangerous as the traditional one. A received idea that lives up to its name. A few weeks later, health professionals are worried by sounding the alarm, like the French doctor Dominique Dupagne who reported during a program on France Inter, a real “scientific harassment” about this new means of smoking cessation, the health efficiency of which is becoming more and more embarrassing.

Last year, in the United States, the tobacco giants managed to increase their turnover by 32% to more than 93 billion dollars. And their profit has increased by 77% since 2006! However, a study in the same country indicates that the widespread conversion of tobacco smokers to vaping could reduce smoking-related deaths in the United States by a quarter by 2100, or 6.6 million deaths avoided.