As of August 3, 2019, in just Wisconsin and Illinois, 14 teens and young adults were hospitalized due to troubled breathing. These incidents are most likely linked to vaping and inhaling toxic and addictive chemicals. Specifically in Wisconsin, 11 of the hospitalizations were due to lung disease, according to the Department of Health Services. However in Illinois, 3 of the hospitalizations were caused by severe respiratory illness.
10 Months to Change
Juul and other e-cigarette selling companies have been selling their products without the FDA’s approval. Originally, the FDA gave those companies until 2022 to submit applications entailing why they should be allowed to continue selling electronic cigarettes. However, since teen vaping is exponentially growing, the FDA decided that they would give the e-cigarette selling companies only until May of 2020 to submit their applications.
Suing Juul
According to the Washington Examiner and Forbes , Maxwell Berger, 22 years-old, suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in July 2017 and spent over 100 days in the hospital. Maxwell required three brain surgeries and still suffers from left-side paralysis, speech impairment and a 50 percent loss of vision from both eyes. Maxwell was smoking every ten minutes and was using two Juul pods a day. He blames his severe illness on the billion-dollar company, Juul and is currently filling a lawsuit against them.
Statistics: Teen Exposure
Stats Taken From the FDA
Statistics: Is Everyone Vaping?
E-cigarettes are becoming very popular among teenagers. In fact, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) says that 79.7% of teens using e-cigarettes don’t know what they are made of, or think that they are made of just popular and satisfying flavors.
Fast Facts: Many E-Cigarettes
Juul is just one type of an e-cigarette. Examples of other e-cigarettes are: hookah pens, e-hookas, vapes/vape pens. All products, not just juul, that contain nicotine are highly addictive.
Fast Facts: Abuse of Drugs
Medical experts believe that e-cigarette use could affect an adolescent’s developing brain and lead to nicotine addiction. It could also lead to abuse of stronger drugs such as opioids. An editorial by JM Drazen et al in the February 14, 2019 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine describes nicotine as a “gateway drug that lowers the threshold for addiction to other agents” and states that “nicotine is as addictive as heroin, so once hooked, most young e-cigarette users will become long-term users.”
Fast Facts: Cigarettes Are Harmful
E-cigarettes are harmful. They are less harmful than regular cigarettes, but they still contain substances like nicotine, lead, volatile organic compounds, and substances that can cause cancer. Chemicals in the e-cigarette aerosol can reach deep into the lungs when inhaled.
Squandering Money
According to USA Today and Market Watch teens are spending about $1000 a year just on electronic cigarette products. Published on Thursday June 26, 2019, both magazines say that Juul pod dealers often buy the pods in stores or online, and then sell the pods for a higher price to teenagers. The Juul pod dealers are earning a profit but now the young users have to pay more money just to get a flavored Juul pod.
Banning Sales
On Wednesday June 26 of 2019, San Francisco becomes the first state to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes. This law will be enforced about seven months after the mayor signs off on this ban, says USA Today. Additional states have also banned or limited the sale of vaping products. New York banned sweet and fruity flavors, but not menthol flavored products. Other states include Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon and Montana.
Targeting Youth
On January 18, 2019, The FDA threatened to remove all e-cigarettes from the market if they do not stop targeting youth. FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb stated that if increases in e-cigarette use continue to rise as they did in 2018, the entire category of e-cigarette and vaping products will be removed from the shelves. Gottlieb blames the rise in use to the increased availability and convenience of e-cigarettes.
An Epidemic
The US Surgeon General officially declared e-cigarette use among youth “an epidemic” on December 18, 2018. Although cigarette use across the country has declined, the rate of vaping among teens has increased dramatically. A recent Monitoring the Future survey (drugabuse.gov) that included more than 40,000 teens nationwide found that 21% of 12th graders vaped during the past 30 days, which was double the rate in 2017. Vaping rates increased similarly in children as young as 6th grade.
Purchasing E-Cigarettes
On November 15, 2018, the FDA asked companies to remove their products within the next 90 days from stores that children can enter and purchase e-cigarettes and online sites that don’t have adequate age-verification processes.
CDC Statistics
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), e-cigarettes are the tobacco product of choice among middle and high school students in the US. In 2018, more than 3.6 million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days. That is a lot of adolescents – 20.8% of high school students and 4.9% of middle school students.
FDA Restrictions
In September 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that they are limiting the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. Only stores not accessible to people < 18 years old or stores that have areas that cannot be accessed by those < 18 years old will be allowed to sell flavored e-cigarettes. The FDA hopes that these restrictions will ensure that children will not be able to purchase fruity flavored e-cigarettes.