The tobacco industry targets kids with flavors. Reaching out to your local officials can make a difference. Enter your name, choose your location and we’ll direct your email to your city’s mayor or your county supervisors.

THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY HAS A KIDS MENU.

The tobacco industry uses fun flavors and tech devices to hook kids on nicotine. Why kids? A developing brain is easier to addict.

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BACK-TO-SCHOOL ALERT: As students return to in-person learning, kids have more opportunities to use vapes. Parents and teachers should watch for warning signs like increased mood swings, anxiety, and even taking a lot of bathroom breaks. Teens who vape are at 5–7x greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19. Explore this site with your teen to learn why vaping is more dangerous than ever.

NICOTINE = BRAIN POISON

The tobacco industry profits by hooking kids on flavored nicotine.

Flavors

96% of high school kids in CA who vape use flavors.Vapes come in kid-friendly flavors like Blue Razz, Pegasus Milk, Menthol Freeze.Flavors mask tobacco’s harshness.Flavoring chemicals can damage lungs.

New nicotine

Many tobacco companies use a highly concentrated form of nicotine called nicotine salts that’s engineered for vaping.Tobacco companies often use nicotine salts in vapes instead of regular nicotine.Nicotine salts allow higher concentrations to be inhaled more easily, and absorbed more quickly, than regular nicotine.Whether it’s regular nicotine or nicotine salts, addiction happens fast, and can lead to further substance abuse.

Poison

Nicotine is poison for the adolescent brain. Nicotine changes the way connections form in the brain. Nicotine can interfere with attention and learning.Nicotine can increase anxiety, mood swings, and irritability.

See how Californians are taking action to protect kids from the dangers of vaping.

Sources

Villanti AC, Johnson AL, Ambrose BK, et al. Flavored Tobacco Product Use in Youth and Adults: Findings From the First Wave of the PATH Study (2013–2014). Am J Prev Med. 2017;53(2):139-151. doi:10.1016/J.AMEPRE.2017.01.026

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Ramamurthi, Divya, et al. “JUUL and Other Stealth Vaporisers: Hiding the Habit from Parents and Teachers.” Tobacco Control, 15 Sept. 2018, doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054455.

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Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. Know the Risks. E-cigarettes.surgeon general.gov. Accessed March 11, 2019.

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Etter JF, Ussher M, Hughes JR. A Test of Proposed New Tobacco Withdrawal Symptoms. Addiction. 2012;108(1):50-59. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03981.x

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Zhao-Shea, Rubing et al. “Increased CRF Signalling in a Ventral Tegmental Area-Interpeduncular Nucleus-Medial Habenula Circuit Induces Anxiety during Nicotine Withdrawal.” Nature Communications 6 (2015): n. pag. Nature Communications. Web.

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Levin S. Teen vaping is finally trending downward, but experts warn the return to in person learning could reverse progress. Wcnc.com. https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/health/teen-vaping-may-spike-again/275-1655dd4c-5fb4-4657-9828-ff424b92a737. Published March 12, 2021. Accessed May 19, 2021.

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Gaiha SM, Cheng J, Halpern-Felsher B. Association Between Youth Smoking, Electronic Cigarette Use, and Coronavirus Disease 2019. J Adolesc Heal. August 2020. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.002

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Zhu S-H, Braden K, Zhuang Y-L, Braden K, Gamst A, Cole AG, Wolfson T, Li S. (2021). Results of the Statewide 2019-20 California Student Tobacco Survey. San Diego, California: Center for Research and Intervention in Tobacco Control (CRITC), University of California San Diego.

Gotts JE, Jordt SE, McConnell R, Tarran R. What are the respiratory effects of e-cigarettes? BMJ. 2019;366. doi:10.1136/bmj.l5275

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Becker R. Juul’s nicotine salts are dominating the market — and other companies want in. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/ 2018/11/21/18105969/juul-vaping-nicotine-salts-electroniccigarettes-myblu-vuse-markten. Published November 21, 2018. Accessed March 13, 2020.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Quick Facts on the Risks of E-cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults. cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/Quick-Facts-on-the-Risks-of-E-cigarettes-for-Kids-Teens-and-Young-Adults.html Reviewed February 3, 2020. Accessed May 8, 2020

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International Programme on Chemical Safety, World Health Organization. Nicotine. inchem.org. March, 1991.

Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. Know the Risks. E-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov. Accessed March 11, 2019.

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Hughes JR. Effects of abstinence from tobacco: Valid symptoms and time course. Nicotine Tob Res. 2007;9(3):315-327. doi: 10.1080/14622200701188919

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Cullen KA, Gentzke AS, Sawdey MD, et al. e-Cigarette Use Among Youth in the United States, 2019 [published online ahead of print, 2019 Nov 5]. JAMA. 2019;322(21):2095–2103. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.18387

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Gentzke AS, Creamer M, Cullen KA, et al. Vital Signs: Tobacco Product Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2011–2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019;68(6):157-164. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6806e1

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Rostron BL, Cheng YC, Gardner LD, Ambrose BK. Prevalence and Reasons for Use of Flavored Cigars and ENDS among US Youth and Adults: Estimates from Wave 4 of the PATH Study, 2016-2017. Am J Health Behav. 2020;44(1):76–81. doi:10.5993/AJHB.44.1.8

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Cullen KA, Ambrose BK, Gentzke AS, Apelberg BJ, Jamal A, King BA. Notes from the Field: Use of Electronic Cigarettes and Any Tobacco Product Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2011–2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2018;67(45):1276-1277. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6745a5

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Dai H, Leventhal AM. Prevalence of e-Cigarette Use Among Adults in the United States, 2014-2018 [published online ahead of print, 2019 Sep 16]. JAMA. 2019;322(18):1824-1827. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.15331

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Johnston LD, Miech RA, O’malley PM, Bachman JG, Schulenberg JE, & Patrick ME (2019). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use 1975−2018: Overview, key findings on adolescent drug use. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. Published January 2019. Accessed March 12, 2019

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Pierce JP, Chen R, Leas EC, et al. Use of E-cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products and Progression to Daily Cigarette Smoking. Pediatrics. 2021;147(2):e2020025122. doi:10.1542/peds.2020-025122

View Source

Youth and young adult vaping is associated with 5 – 7x greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19.

Journal of Adolescent Health

In the last 2 years, vaping has increased by 218% among middle schoolers and 135% among high schoolers

Journal of the American Medical Association

CDC

96% of kids who vape use flavors

2019-20 California Student Tobacco Survey

Teens are nearly 7x more likely to vape nicotine than adults

Journal of the American Medical Association

CDC

Marijuana vaping among youth has increased by 58% in a single year

Monitoring the Future Survey

Teens who vape are 3x more likely than non-vapers to become daily cigarette smokers

American Academy of Pediatrics

The average age of youth and young adults who try smokeless tobacco, like chew or snus, for the first time is 16.

American Academy of Pediatrics

An FDA Policy With a Dangerous Loophole

The youth vaping epidemic finally prompted FDA action. Victory? Not by a long shot. Pressure from the tobacco industry created a dangerous loophole that lets kids continue to get vapes in thousands of flavors, including menthol.

Since the flawed policy was adopted, sales of all menthol vapes have jumped by 52%. Companies that used to sell fruit-flavored or pre-filled flavor pods to kids changed tactics. Now, they push the vapes that remain unregulated, like menthol and disposable. No surprise, those sales are up.

FDA policy does not allow:

Any pre-filled flavored vape pods that snap into vapes like Juul pods. However, menthol and tobacco flavors are still allowed. Synthetic nicotine to be treated any differently than nicotine from any other source.

FDA policy continues to allow:

All refillable flavored vapes, like Suorin and Smok. All disposable flavored vapes, like Flum and Lush Flow. Pre-filled menthol and tobacco-flavored pods.

Sources

US Food & Drug Administration. FDA finalizes enforcement policy on unauthorized flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes that appeal to children, including fruit and mint. fda.gov. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-finalizes-enforcement-policy-unauthorized-flavored-cartridge-based-e-cigarettes-appeal-children. Published January 2, 2020. Accessed February 4, 2020

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Karni A, Haberman M, Kaplan S. Trump Retreats From Flavor Ban for E-Cigarettes. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/health/trump-vaping-ban.html. Published November 17, 2019. Accessed February 21, 2020.

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Sully E, Brody B. Juul Spent Record $1.2 Million Lobbying as Regulators Stepped Up. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-22/juul-spent-record-1-2-million-lobbying-as-regulators-stepped-up. Published October 21, 2019. Accessed February 21, 2020.

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Karlis N. The e-cig industry poured money into lobbying prior to Trump’s reversal on vaping ban. salon.com. https://www.salon.com/2019/11/18/the-e-cig-industry-poured-money-into-lobbying-prior-to-trumps-reversal-on-vaping-ban/. Published November 18, 2019. Accessed February 21, 2020.

Vape Pen Allowed

Vape Pens

Vape pens are refillable in thousands of kid-friendly flavors. They get through the FDA loophole because the policy states no more pre-filled pods, letting refillable vapes off the hook.

MENTHOL:
EASY TO HIT,
HARD TO QUIT.

When will childhood addiction rates drop? When tobacco tastes like tobacco.

OUR PROGRESS IS ACCELERATING

Communities up and down the state have moved quickly over the last few years to protect their kids from flavored tobacco products. But there’s still work to be done.

2010-2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

17 policies Statewide Policy See Full List

Sources

Lee JG, Henriksen L, Rose SW, Moreland-Russell S, Ribisl KM. A Systematic Review of Neighborhood Disparities in Point-of-Sale Tobacco Marketing. Am J Public Health. 2015;105(9):e8-18.

Learn More

Yerger VB, Malone RE. African American leadership groups: smoking with the enemy. Tob Control. 2002;11(4):336–345. doi:10.1136/tc.11.4.336.

Learn More

Levy DT, Pearson JL, Villanti AC, et al. Modeling the future effects of a menthol ban on smoking prevalence and smoking-attributable deaths in the United States. Am J Public Health. 2011;101(7):1236–1240. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300179

Learn More

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The Nasty Truth about Vaping

Hear firsthand from California teens and parents about the dangers of vaping.

Parents & Teens Test Their Vape Knowledge (BuzzFeed)

Watch the BuzzFeed video to see California parents and their teens square off as we test their knowledge about teen vaping and nicotine exposure.

Parents & Teens Test Their Vape Knowledge (BuzzFeed)

Watch the BuzzFeed video to see California parents and their teens square off as we test their knowledge about teen vaping and nicotine exposure.

Real California Teens Talk About Vaping

Real California teens talk about their real experiences with vaping. If you think adults are the only ones getting hooked on vaping, it’s time to WAKE UP.

Vaping at School (the tobacco industries latest scam)

Kids successfully buy vapes online 94% of the time. The tobacco industry has a kids menu.

Can You Spot This Teen’s Vapes?

Can you spot this teen’s vapes? At last count, there were 15,500 vape flavors available online.

Nicotine = Brain Poison

Web Name: The Health Effects of Vaping on Teens | Learn More | Flavors Hook Kids - California Tobacco Control

WebSite: http://www.flavorshookkids.org

ID:254275

Keywords:

Description:

Flavors Hook Kids

Do Something

Emails matter. Send yours in 3 clicks.

THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY HAS A KIDS MENU.

The tobacco industry uses fun flavors and tech devices to hook kids on nicotine. Why kids? A developing brain is easier to addict.

NICOTINE = BRAIN POISON

Flavors

New nicotine

Poison

Sources

An FDA Policy With a Dangerous Loophole

FDA policy does not allow:

FDA policy continues to allow:

Sources

KIDS CAN STILL GET THESE VAPES

Pre-Filled Pod Vapes

Pre-Filled Pod Vapes

Refillable Vapes

Refillable Vapes

Disposable Vapes

Disposable Vapes

Vape Pens

Vape Pens

MENTHOL: EASY TO HIT, HARD TO QUIT.

OUR PROGRESS IS ACCELERATING

2010-2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Sources

Do Something

Emails matter. Send yours in 3 clicks.

The Nasty Truth about Vaping

In The News

NY Times

Time

NY Times

NY Times

NY Times

SF Chronicle

Reuters

NY Times

NPR

Good Morning America

LA Times

NY Times

Inverse

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MENTHOL:
EASY TO HIT,
HARD TO QUIT.