The pandemic and now the political climate has pushed the problem of vaping, particularly among teen and adolescents. The conversation over the many vaping products designed to entice young people to become addicted to nicotine has gone quiet.
The use of flavorings in vaping products is particularly dangerous. Flavors are the biggest reason that teen stop smoking. For decades the tobacco industry has used flavors like menthol to addict new users. We know that tobacco companies add menthol to tobacco products to make them seem less harsh and more appealing to young smokers. Menthol enhances the effects of nicotine on the brain and makes tobacco products even more addictive.
Given all of these facts, why has the FDA decided to approve the sale of menthol-flavored nicotine vaping products. The FDA apparently defended their decision as a harm reduction move that will help adult smokers quit combustible tobacco and switch to a less dangerous (but still harmful) e-cigarette product. However, the FDA did not approve the menthol vaping products as a cessation device but rather as a commercial tobacco product. Further, manufacturers cannot make smoking cessation claims about their products unless they have been approved as such.
I am not sure what is going on here. One thing I will say is that this is the wrong decision by the FDA. The current administration has delayed the FDA’s long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes. There is something rotten in Denmark and it smells like vaping money.
