By: Lee Savio Beers, MD, FAAP, President, American Academy of Pediatrics
"The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decision yesterday to authorize the Vuse Solo e-cigarette to be legally sold in the United States is highly concerning. It is the first e-cigarette product authorized by FDA and is alarmingly the second most popular e-cigarette brand used by children. It’s FDA’s job to protect the health and safety of children, but with products such as this on store shelves, pediatricians are greatly concerned that young people will continue to fall victim to nicotine addiction.
"One Vuse Solo pod contains over 28 mg of nicotine – which is roughly as much as an entire pack of cigarettes. At 4.8%, its nicotine concentration levels are nearly identical to the JUUL products that were responsible for the rise of the youth e-cigarette epidemic and rampant nicotine addiction in teens. FDA’s decision is a departure from policies in other countries that prohibit high-nicotine products like this.
“The availability of these products threatens our efforts to combat the youth nicotine epidemic. Products like this do not belong in the hands of young people, and yet we expect that is where they will end up.
"To be clear, yesterday's decision does not mean that the product has been approved as a safe and effective therapy for smoking cessation. This is a tobacco product, not a medical product. As with all tobacco products, pediatricians urge parents that it is in no way appropriate for children. By law, sales are prohibited to anyone under 21, but we know kids get their hands on them anyway. It will be essential that FDA closely monitors youth use of this product and is prepared to remove it from the market immediately at the first signs of use among children.
"While the American Academy of Pediatrics agrees with the FDA denial of applications for many non-tobacco flavored e-cigarette products, we are very concerned that the agency is still considering authorizing menthol flavored products, which are highly popular among youth. Authorizing menthol products would be a public health disaster for children. As FDA continues this process, we urge the agency to put the health of young people first and protect future generations from addiction."
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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org and follow us on Twitter @AmerAcadPeds.