Durbin Condemns Authorization Of Fruit-Flavored Vapes Fueling Youth E-Cigarette Addiction

Durbin Condemns Authorization Of Fruit-Flavored Vapes Fueling Youth E-Cigarette Addiction

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today held a news conference to discuss recent actions by President Trump's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that will unleash a new wave of youth e-cigarette addiction. Durbin was joined by Dr. Deanna Behrens of Advocate Health Care's Pediatric Critical Care program; Dr. Marcus Belin, who serves as a board member for the National Association of Secondary School Principals; and Rob Anderson, the CEO of the Respiratory Health Association.

"When I was 14 years old, I lost my father to lung cancer at the age of 53," said Durbin. "This experience shaped me, and I have made it a priority during my time in Congress to champion policies that spare others from what my family went through. Today, with fewer and fewer children picking up cigarettes, Big Tobacco created a new, flashy, kid-friendly product that they billed as safer: the e-cigarette. How better to addict children to this new nicotine device than adding fruit and candy flavors to it like gummy bear, whipped cream, and razzle-berry. Unfortunately, it worked as millions of children are now vaping and more than 90 percent of them are doing so because of the sweet flavors. If we do not reverse course quickly, the devastating fallout will be felt by our children for decades to come, and we simply cannot let that happen."

"Respiratory Health Association is deeply concerned about the threat vaping poses to children," Anderson said. "To be clear, there is no safe amount of nicotine at any level. Flavored e-cigarettes are deliberately designed and marketed to appeal to youth, opening the door to a new generation of lung disease."

"The reality is simple-no tobacco or nicotine products are safe for young people," Dr. Behrens said. "Tobacco use almost always starts in childhood or adolescence, and vaping has created a new pathway to nicotine addiction for an entire generation of young people. Vaping is neither a safe alternative nor a cessation aid to traditional cigarette use. The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes all flavored tobacco and nicotine products, including menthol, because flavors play a major role in youth initiation. If you are a teen or parent with questions about e-cigarettes, please talk to your pediatrician to get real and accurate information on the dangers of these products."

"The youth vaping epidemic continues to be exacerbated by a lack of consistent oversight, regulation, and enforcement," Dr. Belin said. "This is no longer just a school issue. It is a growing public health crisis impacting an entire generation of young people. When unauthorized and youth-appealing products remain easily accessible, the cost is being paid by our students through damage to their physical health, mental health, academic performance, and overall well-being. School leaders across this country are witnessing the consequences firsthand, and our students should not have to bear the burden of systems failing to protect them."

The FDA recently authorized the sale of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes for the first time among a series of questionable actions by the agency that came after a $5 million donation to a Trump-backed super PAC late last month by a subsidiary of Reynolds American-the maker of Camel, Newport, Lucky Strike, and Pall Mall cigarettes, as well as Vuse vapes. Early this month, President Trump hosted executives from Reynolds American and Altria for lunch at his Florida golf club where the executives expressed dissatisfaction with the way FDA was regulating their e-cigarette products. Trump reportedly immediately called U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy and U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz to complain about FDA regulation of these products. Just a few days later on May 5, the FDA announced its first authorization of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes, including mango and blueberry vapes. Prior to this, the FDA had only ever authorized tobacco or menthol-flavored vaping products.

On May 8, the FDA announced a new policy that allows e-cigarette manufacturers to sell their products without FDA authorization. The policy is in violation of the law, which requires companies to obtain FDA authorization by demonstrating that they are "appropriate for the protection of the public health" prior to selling their products in the U.S. FDA's guidance stipulates that the agency will not take action against e-cigarettes on the market illegally, so long as they have submitted an application and had it accepted by FDA for review. By May 12, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned.

Several studies have shown how dangerous e-cigarettes can be for adults-let alone children and teens with developing lungs. While e-cigarettes were introduced as a "safer option" to tobacco cigarettes, the contents of e-cigarettes and their aerosols contain harmful substances, including nicotine, heavy metals, particulate matter, propylene or diethylene glycol (found in antifreeze), diacetyl (linked to lung diseases), acrolein (an herbicide), and benzene (a known carcinogen). Today's e-cigarettes can contain as much or more nicotine as 200 cigarettes. According to Australian researchers, who recently conducted a comprehensive review of more than 100 studies, vaping of nicotine products causes cellular changes that are associated with cancer development-particularly lung and oral cancers. Decades of epidemiological data firmly establish the cancer risk or tobacco use, but researchers have cautioned that long-term population studies of e-cigarette users are lacking since the products are still relatively new. We also know that most adult e-cigarette users do not completely switch away from smoking, and instead often continue to use cigarettes.

According to the latest data from the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, eight percent of high school students and four percent of middle school students-a total of nearly two million kids-were current e-cigarette users. However, public health experts, teachers, principals, and students estimate the true number of high-school students vaping to be at least 40 percent. Only approximately six percent of adults vape. Smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death in this country, responsible for 500,000 deaths each year.

Durbin has long been a vocal leader in the fight against Big Tobacco. When he served in the House of Representatives, he led the charge to ban smoking on airplanes, which eventually led to bans on smoking in restaurants, office buildings, trains, and other locations. Durbin has also led efforts to grant FDA jurisdiction over tobacco, raise tobacco taxes to prevent youth initiation, and enhance support for tobacco cessation tools.

Just last week, Durbin questioned the Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Jay Bhattacharya during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing about the Trump Administration's failure to protect children from nicotine addiction and exposure to toxic chemicals as Big Tobacco continues to push kid-friendly flavored e-cigarettes. While Dr. Bhattacharya dodged much of Durbin's questioning, he did say, "Kids having more access to vaping does not make sense to me."

During last month's Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing about the President's Fiscal Year 2027 budget request for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Durbin called on Secretary Kennedy to crack down on illegal e-cigarette products, especially those targeting children.

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