Op-Ed: Youth vaping rates not impacted by pandemic responses despite misinformation campaign

As groups opposed to e-cigarette use continue to decry a fake youth vaping epidemic, they have taken a new route with claiming that youth vaping declined (by a whopping 53 percent) between 2019 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While a seemingly plausible argument, state-specific data from youth surveys indicate that youth vaping declined regardless of whether students were ordered to be in the classroom or at home in 2021. Moreover, these same organizations are confusing lawmakers and picking and choosing what data to present. States are facing pressure from an additional $140 million investment from Michael Bloomberg to ban flavored tobacco and vapor products, lawmakers ought to be paying attention to facts, not fiction.

For example, Washington D.C. public schools frequently shut down during the 2021 school years amid increasing COVID rates. In 2021, according to the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey for D.C. students, 10.1 percent of high schoolers and 4.5 percent of middle schoolers reported current vapor product use, defined as having used the product on at least one occasion in the 30 days prior. Between 2019 and 2021, current vaping use declined by 22.3 percent among high schoolers and decreased by 33.3 percent among middle schoolers.

Florida, which ordered schools to be open, also saw reductions in youth vaping rates. According to data from the Florida Youth Tobacco Survey, 18.3 percent of high schoolers and eight percent of middle schoolers reported current vapor product use in 2021. Again, like D.C., between 2019 and 2021, youth current e-cigarette use declined by 28.5 percent among Florida high school students and by 12.1 percent of among middle schoolers.

In 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than one in 10 (9.4 percent) of middle and high schoolers reported current vaping use. This is a significant decline considering that in 2019 one in five (20 percent) were then-currently using e-cigarettes.

Yet, organizations which remain opposed to tobacco harm reduction products refuse to acknowledge these declines.

In a recent hearing, a representative from the American Lung Association (ALA) informed Hawaii state lawmakers that “tobacco companies” were “harping at [the reduction] … to confuse lawmakers.” The ALA representative cited the fact that between 2019 and 2022 there was the COVID-19 pandemic and that was a reason for the reduction. In an earlier hearing in New Mexico, a representative from Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids remarked that they didn’t know where a previous testifier had gotten the numbers, yet used the same survey data to report on youth e-cigarette use.

It is these Bloomberg-funded groups which are actively confusing lawmakers as they continue to decry a fake vaping epidemic among youth. They also fail to inform lawmakers that the CDC has the data that show most commonly cited reasons why youth are using e-cigarettes, which is not flavors.

In 2021 (according to data from the CDC), among middle and high school students that were currently using e-cigarettes, the most commonly-cited reason for use was because they were feeling anxious, stressed, and /or depressed, with nearly half (43.4 percent) citing this as a reason for use. Only 13.2 percent cited using them because of flavors.

The ALA relies on data from 2017 on reasons youth using e-cigarettes because, according to the outdated survey data, 39 percent used them because of friends and/or family, 31 percent of youths reported using e-cigarettes because of flavors, and 17 percent cited using them as a less harmful alternative to tobacco.

Lawmakers should also be wary of the data being presented because it is not addressing a growing national mental health crisis, a real issue among youth. For example, while the CDC is delaying the publication of state-specific results from the YRBS, the CDC did recently publish a summary report for 2021.

Like state and other national surveys, the 2021 YRBS found that youth vaping declined from 32.7 percent of high school students whom were currently using e-cigarettes in 2019 to 18 percent in 2021. This a 45 percent decline.

While youth vaping declined, the percent of students feeling persistent sadness and/or hopeless increased from 36.7 percent in 2019 to 42 percent in 2021. This is alarming given that CDC survey data indicate youth are using e-cigarettes to self-medicate and lawmakers have dropped the ball on addressing mental health issues because of a Michael Bloomberg-funded campaign of misinformation and paternalism.

Lawmakers should be ashamed of themselves for failing the nation’s kids while amid an assault on alternatives to smoking. If they truly want to address youth vaping, they need to pay attention to factual data, not cherry-picked alarmism stoked by the billions of a nanny state billionaire.