HARTFORD, Conn. (WTIC) - Health officials and legislators in Connecticut are working to reduce and end the dramatic increases of youth tobacco usage - specifically e-cigarettes.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal joined other officials to outline and spread awareness of the growing trend, citing a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed the alarming rises in tobacco product use among youth.
Additionally, the Connecticut Senator sent a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar urging the department to immediately work to curb the growing epidemic.
Most notably, Senator Blumenthal noted the insufficient response and failure to address the issue by the HHS. In a statement Senator Blumenthal noted the FDA recognizing youth e-cigarette use as an epidemic in September of 2018, but added his concern that HHS has not adequately tackled the crisis.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams echoed the FDA's concerns, making an official declaration of an epidemic in December last year. From a report in 2016, the Surgeon General noted e-cigarettes are unsafe for children and adolescents, adding there's strong evidence that users of e-cigarettes are more likely to go on to use traditional cigarettes.
The most recent report from the CDC show that tobacco product use among youth is increasing, and e-cigarettes are to blame. According to the report, there were 1.5 million more current youth e-cigarette users in 2018 than in the previous year. Additionally, the use of any tobacco product grew by 38.3% among high school students. Other statistics from the report show that last year, one in four high school students and one in 14 middle school students said they used tobacco in the past 30 days.
Furthermore, from 2017-2018, e-cigarette use increased from 11.7% to 20.8% among high schoolers.
Health officials highlight the flavored products and marketing efforts geared towards teens as a large factor in getting youth addicted. The high amount of nicotine in each 'JUUL' pod also factors in to the addictive product, according to health officials.
In his letter to Secretary Azar, Senator Blumenthal stated, "63 percent of JUUL users said in a 2017 study that they did not know that the device contained nicotine, despite the fact that a single JUUL pod often contains the same amount of nicotine as a full pack of cigarettes. It is clear that regulatory delay has led to large numbers of kids becoming addicted to these products."
Some of the changes health officials and legislators are pushing for include banning flavors, increasing and enforcing the tobacco sales age, more education and providing better treatment to those addicted to e-cig products.