A spike in teen vaping has spurred the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to seek new rules governing e-cigarettes. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced the proposed regulations in a statement on Thursday.

If adopted, the new rules would prohibit flavored e-cigarette products from being sold in stores and websites used by children. They would not apply to retailers that restrict access to adults only, such as tobacconists, vape shops, and age-restricted websites.

Youth Vaping Up Dramatically

The tighter rules on e-cigarettes were prompted by new data that show that vaping has increased by 78 percent among high school students and 48 percent by children in middle school. The survey of students conducted from March through May of this year also found that students who vape are doing so more frequently and using more flavored products.

“These increases must stop. And the bottom line is this: I will not allow a generation of children to become addicted to nicotine through e-cigarettes. We won’t let this pool of kids, a pool of future potential smokers, of future disease and death, to continue to build. We’ll take whatever action is necessary to stop these trends from continuing,” Gottlieb said.

“This spike in use threatens to stall or reverse the substantial public health gains we’ve made by reducing tobacco use overall, and especially among children,” he added.

Gottlieb noted that young people who vape have a higher chance of becoming smokers.

“The data show that kids using e-cigarettes are going to be more likely to try combustible cigarettes later,” Gottlieb said. “This is a large pool of future risk.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement on Thursday that flavored e-cigarettes are contributing to nicotine addiction
“Flavors

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