US: E-cigarettes sale up by 47% during pandemic, usage up among youth, says CDC's new report

The United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in its recent study stated that the sales of e-cigarettes spiked between 2020 and 2022.

According to the study published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the sales of e-cigarettes went up nearly 47 per cent, from the end of January 2020, just before the pandemic and December 2022, AFP reported.

The study stated thatin January 2020, 15.5 million e-cigarettes were sold, while in December, sales rose to 22.7 million.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

This spike for e-cigarettes in the United States comes as traditional cigarette smoking has reached an all-time low of about 11 per cent among adults in 2022, as the CDC data released in April stated.

What are vapes? Who is consuming it the most?

Introduced in the early 2000s, vapes came into the market as a replacement for cigarettes, a little less harmful, but are now turning youngsters to be addicts.

The health authority highlighted that the hike in vapes was especially for sweet flavours, mostly favoured by youngsters and young adults.Over 14 per cent of high school kids said that they had vaped in 2022, while the year before it, only 4.5 per cent of adults said that they had vaped.

"After January 2020, sales of mint and other flavored prefilled cartridges ceased, and disposable e-cigarettes in fruit, sweet, and other flavors increased," the study stated.

"Disposable e-cigarettes in youth-appealing flavors are now more commonly sold than prefilled units."

In a response to the study released by the CDC, anti-smoking non-profit Truth Initiative chief Robin Koval said, "The tobacco industry is well aware that flavours appeal to and attract kids, and that young people are uniquely vulnerable to nicotine addiction." She added that the authoritiesshould work with even greater urgency to protect the nation's youth from all flavoured e-cigarettes including the disposables.

Sales Restrictions in some states

Though the two-year increase came despite the announcement made by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2020 stating that it would prioritise enforcing rules against unauthorised flavoured vaping products, given their appeal to teenagers and children.

The sales did decline by 12 per cent between May and December 2022.

However, the study said that states like Massachusetts have enforced a comprehensive flavour restriction and have experienced a large and sustained decline in overall e-cigarettesales.

It also found that the use of tobacco products among youngsters declined sinceflavoured tobacco products were restricted.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.