In 2023, 10% of middle and high school students reported current tobacco product use, and use increased among middle school students in the past year. E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among youth, with 2.13 million youth reporting their use. Among students who had ever used an e-cigarette, nearly half reported current use and over a quarter reported daily use.[1]
While tobacco use had been declining for years among youth, the rise of e-cigarettes halted this progress. The wide availability of flavored products has made vaping popular among youth, who are particularly at risk for nicotine addiction and harm.
Even amid the rising availability of vaping products and the dangers they pose, regulation and oversight of such products has lagged. Many of the most popular vaping products among teens have not received the required approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). More efforts to prevent sale to and use by youth are needed.
The Resources to Prevent Youth Vaping Act would provide the FDA with additional resources for regulation and prevention efforts.
Specifically, the bill would increase the amount of tobacco user fees paid to FDA by $100 million and index the amount to inflation in future years. The FDA collects fees from tobacco product manufacturers, which entirely fund the agency’s tobacco program and are allowed to be used only for tobacco regulation activities.[2] However, although the FDA’s tobacco regulation activities include the regulation of e-cigarettes, e-cigarette manufacturers are currently exempt from paying user fees due to a loophole in the law. This bill would allow the FDA to collect user fees from e-cigarette manufacturers. The FDA would be able to use this additional revenue to conduct safety reviews of vaping products, prevent sales of e-cigarettes to minors, support efforts to educate youth about the dangers of e-cigarettes, and increase oversight and enforcement capabilities.
Send the letter below to urge your members of Congress to support the Resources to Prevent Youth Vaping Act to help prevent youth use of and harm from e-cigarettes.