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.
COVID-19 UPDATE: COVID-19 can cause serious lung damage. Yet the tobacco industry keeps pushing flavored vapes on kids, putting them at risk for COVID-19 complications. Youth and young adult vaping is associated with 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. When the product seems harmless, teen use rises. And nicotine’s changes to the brain could be permanent.
Flavors
The tobacco industry uses flavors to spark curiosity and mask the harshness of tobacco. Sadly, it works. 97% of kids who vape use flavors. What’s on the menu? Blue Razz, Pegasus Milk, and other tempting tastes, all made with flavor chemicals that may damage the lungs.
Nicotine
Many tobacco companies use nicotine salts in vapes rather than regular nicotine. Salts allow higher concentrations to be inhaled more easily and absorbed more quickly. Nicotine addiction can happen fast and can lead to substance abuse of all kinds.
Poison
Nicotine is poison for the adolescent brain. It changes the way connections form in the brain, which can interfere with kids’ attention and learning. It can increase anxiety, mood swings, and irritability at a developmental time when life is hard enough.
In the last 2 years, vaping has increased by 218% among middle schoolers and 135% among high schoolers
97% of kids who vape use flavors
Teens are nearly 7x more likely to vape nicotine than adults
Marijuana vaping among youth has increased by 58% in a single year
An FDA Policy With a Dangerous Loophole
The youth vaping epidemic has 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.
And kids may be able to buy pre-filled flavored products, like Juul pods, in the future. That’s because manufacturers still can apply for FDA approval to sell their products.
FDA policy does not allow:
- Any pre-filled flavored vape pods that snap into vapes like Juul pods, except menthol or tobacco flavors.
FDA policy allows:
- All refillable flavored vapes, like Suorin and Smok.
- All single-use disposable flavored vapes, like Puff Bar.
- Pre-filled menthol and tobacco-flavored pods.
KIDS CAN STILL GET THESE VAPES
Despite the FDA flavors policy, vapes are still available to kids in these three forms.
-
JUUL
-
PHIX
-
SUORIN DROP
-
VAPE PEN
-
PUFF BAR
-
POSH VAPE
The Breakdown
How can the industry still sell flavored disposable vapes?
The FDA restricts pre-filled flavored pods. Single-use disposable vapes don’t have pods. So Puff Bar, Posh, and other disposables sail right through the loophole onto shelves. The tobacco industry is free to market high-potency nicotine in kid-friendly flavors for as little as ten bucks a pop. No surprise they’re now trending in schools.
How did Juul get off easy?
They phased out the flavors that eventually became restricted. Did Juul benefit from being partly owned and operated by Big Tobacco giant, Altria, giving them access to seasoned lobbyists? It’s possible. What’s certain is that the vape widely seen as the culprit of the epidemic is largely unaffected by the FDA’s flavors policy.
The FDA policy loophole lets thousands of flavored, kid-friendly vapes stay on the market
The tobacco industry got the flavors loophole they lobbied for, so our kids still have plenty of flavored vapes to choose from. It’s time to take action.
US Food and Drug Administration
@US_FDA
@US_FDA Your new flavored vaping policy has a giant loophole that exposes kids to brain poison and puts them at risk for addiction. It’s time you prioritize kids’ lives over tobacco industry profits.
#flavorshookkids www.flavorshookkids.org

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