While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced it needs more time to decide whether e-cigarettes could remain on the market, or should be banned, anti-smoking activists continue to accuse vaping companies of targeting teens to buy their products.
The U.S. regulatory body recently halted more than one million nicotine vape products, challenging their safety for health and the need to protect youngsters from tobacco addiction.
Public outcry over the risks of teen nicotine vaping dependence have overshadowed discussion of adult smoking cessation, which (obviously) saves lives. Part of that public outcry is driven by claims that vape companies deliberately target teens. Are these allegations based on the truth and supported by data? Catania Conversation speaks to Dr. Charles Gardner, a top expert on Tobacco Harm Reduction and Chief Executive Officer of the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organizations (INNCO), an international NGO that supports the rights of over ninety eight million consumers in thirty-seven countries.
Anti-vaping supporters claim that the vaping industry targets teens to increase their revenue and get a “whole new generations hooked” with those devices. Do you agree?
There is a lot of misinformation in this field. So let’s step back and consider this allegation from an economic perspective. Imagine you are the Chief Executive Officer of a new vape company in the U.S. You commission a market analysis (as all new companies do, even if they make toothpicks). Your analysis will find there are 11 million legal adult vapers, and 34 million legal adult smokers, who could be interested in your products. Both, obviously, have a demonstrated willingness to pay. Infrequent users who don’t buy products are invisible to a market analysis. So your potential market is 45 million legal adults with a demonstrated willingness to pay.
Catania Conversation – 2021-09-13.
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