US Teen Rates Continue To Fall
The National Youth Tobacco Survey 2024 results are in, showing that youth e-cig use has declined again, down to 5.9% who used at all in the past-30-day-use category
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by Dave Cross
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The National Youth Tobacco Survey 2024 results are in, showing that youth e-cig use has declined again, down to 5.9% who used at all in the past-30-day-use category. The results show that the decline is now over 70% from the 2019 peak – pouring cold water on claims of teen epidemics or the need to impose harsh restrictions on adults.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that half a million fewer U.S. youth reported current use of e-cigarettes in 2024 compared to 2023, according to new data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) released today by it and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The nationally representative data featured in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) includes findings on e-cigarette and nicotine pouch use among U.S. youth, two categories of tobacco products the FDA and CDC say they are monitoring closely, particularly regarding youth use and appeal.
The NYTS is an annual school-based, self-administered survey of U.S. middle (grades 6–8) and high school (grades 9–12) students conducted Jan. 22 to May 22, 2024.
Findings showed there was a significant drop in the number of U.S. middle and high school students who reported current (past 30 days) e-cigarette use – a decrease from 2.13 million (7.7%) youth in 2023 to 1.63 million (5.9%) youth in 2024.
“This decline was largely driven by reduced e-cigarette use among high schoolers (1.56 million to 1.21 million), with no statistically significant change in current e-cigarette use among middle school students within the past year,” the FDA said. “The number of youth who used e-cigarettes in 2024 is approximately one-third of what it was at its peak in 2019, when over five million youth reported current e-cigarette use.”
Brian King, director of the FDA’s Centre for Tobacco Products, refused to accept that the agency’s fear of vaping was overblown: “The continued decline in e-cigarette use among our nation’s youth is a monumental public health win. This progress is a testament to the relentless efforts by the FDA, CDC and others, particularly over the past half decade. But we can’t rest on our laurels, as there’s still more work to do to further reduce youth e-cigarette use.”
Among vaping teens, 26.3% said they vaped daily. Almost all teens who vape use flavoured products (87.6%), with fruit (62.8%), candy (33.3%) and mint (25.1%) being the top three most commonly used flavours.
Disposable e-cigarette products were the most common product type used, “however,” says the FDA, “the most popular brands included both disposable and cartridge-based products.”
The most popular brands used by vaping teens were:
- Elf Bar (36.1%)
- Breeze (19.9%)
- Mr. Fog (15.8%)
- Vuse (13.7%)
- JUUL (12.6%)
The popularity of Elf Bar highlights a problem with the FDA’s approach to vaping in the States. Despite dropping from 56.7% of teens using them in 2023, these 36.1% of teens are sourcing all of their products from the black market because the products are not licensed for sale. In fact, Elf Bar has received more than 1,000 warning letters and 240 civil money penalties have been handed out to retailers and others in the supply chain.
The FDA says it has also issued import alerts that include products under the Elf Bar brand, which places them on the “red list” and allows the agency to detain products without conducting a full inspection at the time of entry.
Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said: “Youth use of tobacco products in any form—including e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches—is unsafe. It’s essential that we remain vigilant and committed to public health efforts to ensure all youth can live healthy, tobacco-free lives.”
It appears the FDA and CDC have learned nothing from the ‘war’ on cannabis.
Photo Credit:
Flag photo by Meadow Marie on Unsplash
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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