FDA’s approval of fruit-flavored vapes is astep backwards

The recent decision by those in charge at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow for the sale of fruit-flavored vapes in the United States represents a huge step backwards after a longstanding ban of these fruit-flavored, nicotine-based products because of their appeal to children.

Nicotine is highly addictive and affects the developing adolescent brain in ways that rival other hard drugs. The still-developing human brain is susceptible to substances (including alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, and drugs of all kinds) that alter  brain chemistry that can lead to a lifetime of addiction.

For example, children who start drinking alcohol at the age of 15 are five times more likely to become alcoholics than those who do not start to drink until they are in their 20s.

As for cigarettes, a study in England found that the most-common link among heroin addicts was that they began smoking as teenagers.

The FDA’s recent decision reverses a former policy that had banned fruit-flavored e-cigarettes (such as JUULS)  because of their appeal to children. Given that about 90 percent of the 1.5 million American teenagers from middle school through high school who use e-cigarettes (which typically are disposable imports that are not covered by the ban on JUULS) choose flavored products, the American Academy of Pediatrics and many public health advocates have criticized the FDA’s abrupt change in policy.

We should point out that thankfully, the FDA’s new policy will not overrule our state law here in Massachusetts, which has banned the sale of fruit-flavored e-cigs since 2019.

In addition, Glas Inc., the Los Angeles-based company that manufactures the e-cigarettes that received FDA approval, asserts that its technology will preclude young people from being able to use their products. Their authorized devices are designed to pair with smartphones via Bluetooth, so they will not work if separated from the phone of the verified adult owner.

Technology is a great thing, and we certainly hope that the tech being embedded in these new e-cigs will prevent them from being accessible to young people. 

However, e-cigarettes have been shown to cause long-term damage to the lungs of users at any age. In our view, whatever benefit there may be to allowing these fruit-flavored vapes to come on the market (in theory, to wean smokers away from cigarettes) is far outweighed by the great harm that can result from a lifetime of addiction to nicotine if begun at an early age.