N
F
E
R
NEWS
H
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
TO SPEND $160M TO
‘END YOUTH E-CIGARETTE
EPIDEMIC’
Three year campaign has big name support and calls
for nationwide flavour ban.
J
ust 24 hours before President Trump announced his flavour
ban proposal, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg
pledged to spend $160 million to help “end the youth
e-cigarette epidemic.”
Bloomberg Philanthropies will spend the money on a multi-pronged
assault on the vape industry.
It will push for a nationwide vape flavour ban (assuming the President
doesn’t get there fi rst) and lobby for the FDA to take an even more
aggressive approach to reviewing vape products and imposing
standards on e-cigarettes.
The organisation will also actively support local and state
governments in fi ghting any industry opposition or lawsuits for
supporting e-cigarette bans.
It said it was responding to the “alarming levels of e-cigarette use
among youth in the United States” which has seen “a 78 percent
increase among high school students in just one year.”
The offi cial announcement also referenced the current lung illness
crisis saying that the initiative was launching on the heels of “33
states investigating more than 450 cases of lung illnesses associated
with vaping, many of which involve teens and young adults.”
Just like President Trump’s announcement the following day, it fails
to make any distinction between the vaping of illegal bootleg THC
products and the regulated e-cigarette market.
The initiative’s goals include protecting kids, banning all flavoured
e-cigarettes and stopping Juul and other e-cigarette companies from
marketing their products to children.
It said: “E-cigarettes are uniquely dangerous for kids due to nicotine’s
22 VM25
highly addictive properties and its impact on their developing brains:
adolescent exposure to nicotine can reduce attention, learning and
memory. There is also substantial evidence that e-cigarette use
increases the risk of using combustible tobacco cigarettes among
youth and young adults.”
The three-year program will be led by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free
Kids, which will partner with other leading organisations including
parent and community groups concerned about the nation’s kids and
health.
Bloomberg Philanthropies said: “More than 3.6 million middle and high
school students in the United States use e-cigarettes, accounting for
about one-third of all U.S. e-cigarette users.
“E-cigarettes with kid-friendly flavors such as mint, mango, gummy
bear and cotton candy are fuelling this epidemic; 97 percent of kids
who use e-cigarettes use the flavoured varieties, and 70 percent report
the flavors as the reason they use e-cigarettes. Teen smoking rates
in the United States declined by more than 70 percent between 2000
and 2018, but the spike in e-cigarette use among youth threatens to
undo a generation’s worth of progress.”
Bloomberg Philanthropies Founder Michael Bloomberg said:
“E-cigarette companies and the tobacco companies that back them
are preying on America’s youth. They are using the same marketing
tactics that once lured kids to cigarettes, and the result is an epidemic
that is spiralling out of control and putting kids in danger of addiction
and serious health problems.
“The federal government has the responsibility to protect children
from harm, but it has failed – so the rest of us are taking action. I look