In a deeply polarized political climate, there’s strong bipartisan agreement that the FDA’s failure to regulate a functioning market for vapes has led to chaos and fueled a black market that also targets our kids. The agency’s inability to authorize sufficient vapes to meet consumer demand, its ban on specific products and flavors, and its complete lack of enforcement strategy have flooded the nation with illegal products. Illegal vapes from China are dominating the market and have become the top choice among middle and high school students.
The Biden Administration and the FDA have stood idly by while these illegal disposable vaping products are flying off our shelves and into the hands of the public. This is not just a policy failure; it’s a public health crisis, particularly for young people.
It is clearly time for a paradigm shift in our approach to tobacco control.
Tobacco harm reduction (THR) is a public health strategy to help smokers get rid of their cigarettes once and for all. Not all forms of nicotine consumption are equally harmful and every person trying to quit deserves the best tools to help them do so. Tobacco bans and other prohibitionist approaches have proven ineffective in changing consumer behavior, while they create harmful unintended consequences including a violent illicit market. THR is an enlightened public health strategy that promotes the use of less harmful alternatives to combustible cigarettes, the primary culprits behind smoking-related illnesses. These alternatives, such as vapes and pouches, eliminate the burning process, which is responsible for generating harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke.
Why Consider Vaping?
The Potential to Save Lives: The FDA and the surgeon general have stated that smokers who transition completely away from cigarettes to vapes could realize health benefits, and suggest that medical providers discuss vapes with patients who smoke. Vapes could contribute to at least 20,000 new individuals quitting cigarettes every year, according to a Public Health England report, with the potential for even higher numbers in the future. In England alone, vaping is estimated to already contribute to an additional 50,000 to 70,000 individuals quitting smoking each year.
A Healthier Alternative: Vaping is at least 95% less harmful than cigarette smoking, and vapes are likely to have less than 5% of the health risks associated with smoked tobacco products. If our goal is to save lives, public health standards should encourage less harmful nicotine products, and the FDA should prioritize the authorization of more safe, effective vapes.
More Effective Than Other Cessation Strategies: The Cochrane Systematic Review, which conducts meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials concluded that vaping is more effective than common smoking cessation strategies like behavioral counseling, patches, gums, and lozenges. Recent studies have shown that vaping may be as effective as prescription drugs in helping smokers quit.
Global Success Stories: Countries like the United Kingdom and Sweden have embraced smokeless nicotine products, significantly improving public health outcomes. Sweden now has the lowest levels of daily cigarette use in the EU and comparatively low levels of tobacco-related disease, which many health experts attribute to their embrace of nicotine pouches. The United States should adopt similar policies to enhance community well-being and save lives.
Join the Movement
We invite you to learn more about the benefits of vaping and other alternative nicotine products and to encourage the FDA and state policymakers to prioritize product authorizations and clean up the market with more vigorous enforcement, including published directories of authorized products at the state level. Adult smokers need to trust that the vapes they buy are authorized and manufactured with trustworthy standards.
Together, we can create a healthier future and save lives by promoting better, less harmful options for smokers trying to quit.
.@POTUS’ IRA is driving up Part D premiums for millions of Medicare beneficiaries, yet Dems like @SenSanders continue to help tout this disastrous legislation. The Biden-Harris @WhiteHouse is misleading the public on their policy’s real impact.
Two weeks from election day, the supposedly independent @FCC is proposing price regulation of #broadband by restricting what data plans companies can offer.
By prohibiting usage-based plans, the FCC would end up increasing prices FOR EVERYONE, including low-data users!
CASE Letter Urges FDA & FTC to Scrutinize Deal Between L’Oréal and Galderma -- "Both companies are currently under investigation or facing sizable lawsuits from claims that they have used harmful chemicals in their products."
https://caseforconsumers.org/2024/10/21/case-letter-urges-fda-ftc-to-scrutinize-deal-between-loreal-and-galderma/