tobacco

Washington State passes new law to raise legal age to purchase tobacco and vaping products. The new law helps to prevent tobacco use in 15- to 18-year-olds, as those who use during youth are more likely to be life long tobacco users.

The FDA has become aware that some people who use e-cigarettes have experienced seizures, with most reports involving youth or young adult users. Seizures or convulsions are known potential side effects of nicotine toxicity and have been reported in the scientific literature in relation to intentional or accidental swallowing of e-liquid.

With support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a part of the National Institutes of Health, CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) has created a publication entitled, "Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems: Juuling, Other Trends, and Community Prevention," which outlines best practices for coalitions to tackle this epidemic among youth.   

The Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan issued a press release on results from the 2018 Monitoring the Future study.  Increases in adolescent vaping from 2017 to 2018 were the largest

U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on December 18, 2018 stressing the importance of protecting children from a lifetime of nicotine addiction and associated health risks by immediately addressing the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use. Read more here.

E-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product by middle and high school students in 2017, followed by cigars and cigarettes. Use of tobacco products in any form by youth is unsafe, including infrequent use. During 2015–2017, the frequency of tobacco product use among current middle and high school users varied by product type and school level. However, for all assessed products, most current users reported using each product for 1–5 of the past 30 days.

The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids has released a guide for parents to help them understand what vaping is, its appeal to youth and what research has to say about both the risks and unknowns. They identified signs to look for and what to do if a parent is concerned that their child may try or actually is vaping, and offer advice on what to say when answering some of tough questions about vaping.

Truth Initiative is looking for ten young adults who are passionate about tobacco control to be 2019 truth Ambassadors. truth Ambassadors will participate in a year-long program, where they will develop a sustainable project that helps eliminate tobacco in their community (local, state or national), and learn how to better engage and mobilize other youth and young adults around tobacco issues. Participants will receive a stipend and financial support for their project.

The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, released a statement proposing new steps to protect youth from accessing flavored e-cigarette products and banning menthol in cigarettes and cigars. 

The CDC, in partnership with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute, released a report showing US adult smoking rates have reached a new low. Researchers analyzed data from the 2017 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). In 2017, an estimated 47.4 million U.S.