Why US must help kids be free of vaping

The new FDA regulations on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors is only a step toward raising a generation free of nicotine addiction.

|
Reuters
A customer prepares to try a Philip Morris' "iQOS" smokeless tobacco e-cigarette at a store in Tokyo, Japan.

Only a few countries, such as Finland and New Zealand, plan to raise a generation of people free of addiction to nicotine. On Thursday, the United States took a step closer to such a healthy goal by imposing new federal regulations on e-cigarettes – with the special aim of denying their sale to people under 18.

These battery-powered devices, which often resemble a cigarette, deliver a hit of nicotine through inhaled water vapor. Their use has skyrocketed in recent years, and not always with the purpose of helping someone kick a tobacco habit. An estimated 1 in 5 high school students in the US was “vaping” by 2014 – even though traditional smoking of tobacco products by teens has been in decline.

To curb the rampant marketing of e-cigarettes to young people by a multibillion-dollar industry, the Food and Drug Administration needed to act. In addition to prohibiting sales to minors, the new FDA rules will also require producers of e-cigarettes to account for their products’ ingredients and disclose their manufacturing processes. Companies would also be barred from handing out free samples. Even tougher regulations may be required as more research is done on e-cigarettes.

The endgame of these regulations is not only to prevent harm but to help young people embrace the idea that they can live free of any addiction. In 2014, the US Surgeon General said the overarching goal of ending the use of tobacco-related products is to “maximize health.” And last year, the United Nations went even further. It linked a reduction of tobacco use to its new goals of creating sustainable prosperity for the world’s poor.

Many states in the US have already moved to regulate or tax e-cigarettes. (This week, California joined Hawaii in raising the age of tobacco purchase from 18 to 21.) With this FDA action, the US will go further toward raising a generation of Americans free of these addictive products. But first it must curb the commercial initiation of these new nicotine-delivery devices to youth.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Why US must help kids be free of vaping
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2016/0505/Why-US-must-help-kids-be-free-of-vaping
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe