FDA to expand campaign to focus on prevention of youth e-cigarette use

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday announced it would pursue a strategic, new public health education campaign aimed at discouraging the use of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems by kids. The agency plans to expand its “The Real Cost” public education campaign to include messaging to teens about the dangers of using these products this fall while developing a full-scale campaign to launch in 2018. These efforts are part of the agency’s new comprehensive plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation. “Educating youth about the dangers of tobacco products has been a cornerstone of our efforts to reduce the harms caused by these products,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “Including e-cigarettes and other ENDS products in our prevention work not only makes sense, it reflects the troubling reality that they are the most commonly-used tobacco product among youth.”