“Monitoring the Future” Results Show Urgent Need for FDA Action

Washington, DC (December 16, 2014)—

For the first time ever, a national study found e-cigarette use among teens exceeds traditional cigarette smoking.  The study, “Monitoring the Future,” also found that e-cigarette use among 8^th and 10^th graders was double that of traditional cigarette smoking.  

Today’s study highlights the urgent need for the Obama Administration to finalize its proposed regulation that would give the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products authority over e-cigarettes and other unregulated tobacco products.  Currently, no e-cigarettes are under FDA’s authority. 

“For years, the American Lung Association has sounded the warning bell about e-cigarette use among youth,” said Harold P. Wimmer, American Lung Association National President and CEO.  “The Monitoring the Future results clearly show that the FDA must act now to regulate e-cigarettes to protect America’s children from nicotine addiction.” 

The findings, which come from the University of Michigan’s Survey for Research Center and is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, asked 8^th, 10^th and 12^th graders if they had used either an e-cigarette or a traditional cigarette in the past 30 days.  The survey found 9 percent of 8^th graders, 16 percent of 10^th graders and 17 percent of 12^th graders used e-cigarettes.  Four percent of 8^th graders, 7 percent among 10^th graders and 14 percent of 12^th graders reported using a traditional cigarette during that time period.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act), which became law in 2009, gave FDA immediate authority over cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.  The Tobacco Control Act also gave FDA the ability to then assert authority or "deem" jurisdiction over all other tobacco products, including cigars, e-cigarettes, hookah and pipe tobacco – the next generation of tobacco products that are being used to target kids.  In April, the FDA released its proposed regulation and in August, the American Lung Association filed its own comments as well as joint comments with partners. 

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