Teen Vaping Hits 10-Year Low in US | News, Sports, Jobs

FILE – Elf Bar and Esco Bar flavored disposable vaping devices are shown in Washington, D.C., Monday, June 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer teens are smoking e-cigarettes this year than at any other point in the past decade, state officials said Thursday, pointing to the declining number of high school students using Elf Bar and other fruity, illicit e-cigarettes.

The latest survey results show that the rate of vaping among teens has fallen below 6% this year, down from 7.7% in 2023. More than 1.6 million students reported vaping in the past month — about a third of the number in 2019, when underage vaping peaked amid the use of discreet, high-nicotine e-cigarettes like Juul.

This year’s decline was mostly due to half a million high school students who reported using e-cigarettes in the past month, officials said. Vaping did not change among high school students, but it is still less common among that group, at 3.5% of students.

“This is a monumental victory for public health” FDA tobacco director Brian King told reporters. “But we can’t rest on our laurels. There’s clearly more work to be done to further reduce its use by young people.”

King and other officials noted that the decline in vaping popularity has not coincided with the rise in popularity of other tobacco industry products, such as nicotine pouches.

Sales of small, flavored pods like Zyn have soared among adults. The subject of viral videos on social media platforms, the pods come in flavors like mint and cinnamon and slowly release nicotine when placed along the gum line. A U.S. study this year found that 1.8% of teens use them, largely unchanged from last year.

“Our guard is up” Said the king. “We are aware of the upward sales trends observed and are closely monitoring the changing situation in the tobacco market.”

The federal study involved more than 29,000 students in grades 6 through 12 who completed an online survey in the spring. Health officials consider the study the best measure of tobacco and nicotine trends among youth. Thursday’s update focused on vaping products and nicotine pods, but the full release will eventually include rates of cigarette and cigar smoking, which have also hit record lows in recent years.

FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials have attributed the big drop in vaping popularity to recent age restrictions and more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers, including Chinese e-cigarette companies that have been selling their e-cigarettes illegally in the U.S. for years.

Use of the most popular e-cigarette among teens, Elf Bar, has fallen 36% following FDA warning letters to stores and distributors selling the brightly colored vaporizers, which come in flavors like watermelon ice and peach mango. The brand is part of a wave of cheap, disposable e-cigarettes from China that have taken over much of the U.S. vaping market. The FDA has tried to block such imports, although Elf Bar and other brands have tried to find workarounds by changing their names, addresses and logos.

Among teens, there continues to be a significant proportion of teens using popular U.S. e-cigarettes such as Vuse and Juul, with approximately 12% of teens who vape reporting using these brands.

In 2020, FDA regulators banned fruit and candy flavors from reusable e-cigarettes like Juul, which is now sold only in menthol and tobacco versions. But the flavor restriction didn’t apply to disposables, and companies like Elf Bar stepped in to fill the gap.

Other key findings from the report:

— Of the students who currently use e-cigarettes, approximately 26% responded that they vape daily.

— Almost 90% of students who use e-cigarettes use flavored products, with fruit flavors being the most popular.

— Zyn is the most popular nicotine pouch among teenagers using these products.

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