Despite a zero-tolerance policy for tobacco and vaping on campuses, and educational efforts to get kids to quit or not start at all, electronic cigarette use is on the upswing. A survey, conducted during 2019, shows nearly 1 in 3 high schoolers here reported using e-cigs in the previous month, compared to about 1 in 4 two years prior.
The increase is particularly alarming amid the COVID-19 pandemic because compromised lungs are more likely to be hard hit by the coronavirus. The rise in e-cig use is reported in the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System” update, which monitors health-related behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among U.S. youth.
At the state Capitol, a set of bills sponsored by Hawaii’s Keiki Caucus that sought tougher restrictions on the vaping industry stalled when the virus upended much of the 2020 legislative session. The American Lung Association in Hawaii is now rightly again calling on the Legislature to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including mint and menthol, and all flavored e-cigarettes, cigars and cigarettes.
Hawaii lawmakers should follow the lead of California lawmakers, who voted on Monday to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products, including flavored e-cigs, flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes. The bill penalizes retailers who sell these items by fining them $250 for each violation.
In December 2018, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams declared e-cigarette use among youth an “epidemic,” and pointed to dramatic rises in use among high school students. The figures are continuing to climb. And there’s no doubt that nicotine-infused “e-juices” mimicking popular candies and fruit flavors are enticing kids to give vaping a go.
The CDC update, released last week, found that nearly 33% of U.S. high school students were current e-cig users in 2019, up from 13% in 2017. The evidence is clear that flavored vaping products have fueled this epidemic. A vast majority of youth users reported using a flavored product in the past month, and most cited flavors as the reason for their use.
About a decade ago, when nicotine vaping surfaced on the market, some people welcomed the unregulated products as a potentially safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes. And while many adults have reportedly vaped their way to kicking a tobacco habit, regulators have not approved vaping as a smoking cessation tool.
In Hawaii, the industry’s supporters maintain that efforts are in place to ensure that customers are at least 21 years old, the legal age for purchase of e-cigs and tobacco cigarettes. Still, teens are getting their hands on these products, which can get them hooked on nicotine. Echoing state surveys, the latest CDC figures point to a troubling rise in use among younger middle school students, too.
Clearly, more needs to be done to discourage vaping among youth. Underscoring this is a just-published study, led by Stanford University researchers, that found teens and young adults who had vaped in the previous month were five times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 compared with those who did not use e-cigs.
While the CDC has yet to peg vaping as a COVID risk factor, since last summer it has been tracking a newly identified disease, known as EVALI, which stands for “e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury,” in connection with upwards of 2,800 hospitalizations.
In recent years, Hawaii’s youth vaping rates have been among the highest in the nation. The need for state leaders and others to take action to protect our youth from potential health injury associated with e-cigarette use is now more urgent than ever.
