In the Oval Office yesterday, President Donald J. Trump announced bold action from his Administration to combat a new type of addiction threatening American families.
“We have a problem in our country. It’s a new problem. It’s a problem nobody really thought about too much a few years ago, and it’s called ‘vaping,’” the President said. “And the parents don’t know too much about it.”
About 8 million adults use e-cigarettes today—but so do 5 million American children. “An entire generation of children risk becoming addicted to nicotine because of the attractiveness, appeal-ability, and availability of these vaping products,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said.
Watch: Trump Administration removes all flavored e-cigarettes from the market.
To protect our children and ensure that e-cigarettes return to their original function—helping adults gradually overcome nicotine addiction from tobacco products—President Trump has authorized the Food and Drug Administration to finalize rules that ban the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes.
The President’s actions come as a result of new data, not yet released, from the National Youth Tobacco survey. Secretary Azar briefed the President and First Lady on the new report yesterday, which shows a surge in adolescent usage of e-cigarettes. It also confirmed that children are drawn to flavored e-cigarette products in particular.
The ban will cover all non-tobacco flavored e-cigarettes, which includes bubblegum, fruit, alcohol, mint, and menthol flavored products.
See the chart First Lady Melania Trump shared on child e-cigarette usage.
More: “Melania Trump calls for government action against e-cigarettes”
