Reports in 2019 of e‐cigarette vaping associated lung injury (EVALI) in teen and adolescent vapers added momentum to the already popular idea of banning flavored vaping cartridges, very popular with young vapers.
In January 2020 the Food and Drug Administration ordered all companies to cease manufacturing flavored vaping cartridges.
It has been illegal to sell e‐cigarettes to anyone under age 18 since 2016. The age was raised to 21 for tobacco and e‐cigarettes in December 2019. This, of course, has not prevented many youth from obtaining e‐cigarettes and cartridges on the black market.
The movement to keep teens away from e‐cigarettes stems from the belief that they are a gateway to tobacco smoking. A 2018 study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco suggested teen vapers progressed to tobacco. However, University of South Dakota researchers questioned the methodology of that study, claiming the relationship between teen vaping and tobacco smoking can be traced to shared risk factors for tobacco use. Their own study, published in April 2020, concluded:
Jeffrey A. Singer – CATO Institute – 2021-05-18.
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