Millions of U.S. Students Still Vape, Despite Yearly Declines

Oct. 7, 2022 — More than 2.5 million center faculty and highschool college students within the U.S. use e-cigarettes, in line with a new examine from the CDC and FDA.

The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey, carried out between January and May, confirmed that 14% of highschool college students and three.3% of center faculty college students used nicotine units at the very least as soon as throughout the previous 30 days. A 12 months in the past, the survey confirmed that 11.3% of highschool college students and a pair of.8% of center faculty college students reported vaping previously month.

The numbers stay under 2019 knowledge, which confirmed that greater than 25% of highschool college students vaped. Even nonetheless, anti-tobacco and anti-vaping teams have urged federal regulators to get rid of flavored vaping merchandise which are well-liked amongst teenagers. 

In this 12 months’s survey, 85% of teenagers who vaped mentioned they used flavored e-cigarettes. The most used flavors had been fruit (69%); sweet, desserts, or sweets (38%); mint (29%); and menthol (27%).

“It is unacceptable that over 2.5 million kids still use e-cigarettes when there is a clear solution to the problem — eliminate all flavored e-cigarettes,” Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, informed USA Today.

The FDA has banned flavored vaping merchandise derived from tobacco. However, customers have more and more turned to artificial nicotine merchandise, which are sometimes disposable and bought in a wide range of flavors, the newspaper reported.

In 2022, teenagers reported a number of completely different favourite manufacturers, in distinction to 2019, when JUUL was probably the most acknowledged model. Among those that at present vape, 14.5% mentioned their normal model was Puff Bar, adopted by 12.5% for Vuse, 5.5% for Hyde, and 4% for SMOK. In addition, practically 22% mentioned their normal model wasn’t among the many 13 listed within the survey.

About 28% of youth reported utilizing e-cigarettes every day, and 42% reported utilizing them on 20 or extra days throughout the previous 30 days.

In addition, about 55% of stripling vapers mentioned they use disposable e-cigarettes. About 25% use prefilled or refillable pods, and seven% use tanks or mod programs. Another 23% mentioned they didn’t know what kind of machine they used.

“This study shows that our nation’s youth continue to be enticed and hooked by an expanding variety of e-cigarette brands delivering flavored nicotine,” Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, mentioned in a press release.

“Our work is far from over,” she mentioned. “It’s critical that we work together to prevent youth from starting to use any tobacco product — including e-cigarettes — and help all youth who do use them, to quit.”