By The Herald Editorial Board
For years the makers and distributors of the liquid used in e-cigarettes have flirted with the teen market for vaping products by flavoring the liquids to taste like fruit, candy and baked goods, yet insisting that their products were meant only for adults.
More recently, some manufacturers of the liquid have removed all doubt about their intentions to hook children on the nicotine-delivery products by packaging the stuff to closely resemble brand-name kids’ treats.
This week the federal Food and Drug Administration issued warnings to more than a dozen manufacturers, distributors and retailers of products, the packaging for which could easily be mistaken by a younger child for such treats, risking the threat of nicotine poisoning. Even ingesting small amounts of liquid nicotine can cause seizures, coma and fatal heart problems in children, the FDA said.
No deaths have been reported, the FDA said, but between 2012 and 2017, poison control centers reported more than 8,000 cases of children accidentally ingesting the e-cigarette liquid.
Had the FDA not issued its warnings, the Selah, Washington-based makers of Tree Top apple juice could have launched a likely successful trademark infringement lawsuit over the use of similar colors, images and typography. What looks like a single-serving box of Tree Top apple juice is the packaging for a container of One Mad Hit apple-flavored e-liquid, while Vape Heads Sour Smurf Sauce resembles War Heads candy and V’Nilla Cookies and Milk could be mistaken for a box of Nilla wafer cookies.
“No child should be using any tobacco product, and no tobacco products should be marketed in a way that endangers kids — especially by using imagery that misleads them into thinking the products are things they’d eat or drink,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb.
The FDA’s warnings over packaging followed its crackdown last week on retailers selling JUUL and similar e-cigarette devices to minors. The JUUL-brand devices have become “wildly popular” with kids, the FDA said, because their design resembles an easily concealable flash drive, they deliver high levels of nicotine and — unlike most e-cigarettes — don’t produce huge clouds of vapor, making them easier to hide their use from parents and teachers.
Taken every two years, the state Department of Health’s 2016 Healthy Youth Survey, noted that e-cigarette use among 10th-graders dropped to 13 percent in 2016 from 18 percent in 2014. When the 2018 survey is taken this October, particular attention should be paid to any increase in the percentage of teens using e-cigarettes.
While the percentage of youths using e-cigarettes had dropped in 2016, the same survey also found that only about a third of the same age group believed there was a risk in regular use of e-cigarettes.
A study released this February, published by the Centers for Disase Control and Prevention, showed that youths who use e-cigarettes were at an increased risk for addiction and future cigarette and tobacco use.
Many adult smokers have successfully used e-cigarettes to quit smoking, and point to them as a healthier alternative to conventional cigarettes and other tobacco products. But questions remain about the potential for disease from chemicals in the e-cigarette liquid, particularly those used as flavoring agents.
Washington state lawmakers considered legislation this session that would have raised the age for purchase of tobacco and e-cigarette products to 21 years from the current age of 18. Another bill would have taxed e-cigarette products at the same rate as cigarettes and tobacco. Both pieces of legislation should return for consideration next year, especially if this fall’s Healthy Youth Survey shows an increase in teen use of e-cigarettes.
In addition to its enforcement on packaging and its action against retailers selling JUUL and similar devices to youths, including online, the FDA should focus more scrutiny on the practice of using flavors and the names given to products to market e-cigarettes and vaping liquids to minors.
The cynical sales practices of some e-cigarette liquid manufacturers should make it clear that the intent all along has been to hook teens on these addictive products and assure themselves customers for life.
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