A few years ago, parents and teachers in Chicago were facing a new threat as e-cigarettes began showing up in classrooms and school lockers. While smoking cigarettes has thankfully become less popular among young people, fruity flavored “vapes” became the trendy new teenage accessory as they spread like wildfire throughout Illinois and the United States. Fighting back against the dangerous new epidemic of nicotine vape addiction, our elected officials banned flavored e-cigarettes, but a more dangerous product slipped through the cracks and is getting our kids hooked.
Disposable e-cigarettes made in China by companies such as Puff Bar and Elf Bar have sneaked around the law by exploiting a loophole in U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulation. They’re sold in kid-friendly flavors at reasonable prices and can be found on store shelves in our community. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2.5 million middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes last year. More than 50% of youth vapers reported using disposables, with Puff Bar owning almost 15% of the market as the top choice for teens. Some of these unscrupulous manufacturers have been caught loading their products with illegal levels of nicotine in the United Kingdom to make them even more addictive.
When you look at the cartoon character packaging and the flavors such as cherry pomegranate, kiwi passion guava and peach ice, you can see right away that manufacturers are marketing to young people. They’re even marketing them in disguises to look like sippy cups or even school supplies to escape detection from educators. How can this happen if flavored vapes are illegal?
To start, the FDA left the door open for disposables in its enforcement guidelines. That needs to change. But more problematic is the fact that many of these products are being smuggled into our country from overseas.
Illegal vapes have been found smuggled across our southern border from Mexico. Shenzhen, China, has become known as “Vapor Valley” since it produces 90% of all the e-cigarettes in the world. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates that more than 700 million disposable e-cigarettes were imported to the U.S. from China last year, up from 300,000 in 2017. That’s an increase of more than 2,000% in five years. These products are often produced without any oversight or government standards; in many cases, they are smuggled into the country illegally, and they end up on store shelves or sold on street corners out of backpacks.
It’s bad enough that our kids figure out a way to get their hands on legitimate adult products, but the danger of these disposable products from overseas can’t be overstated. These products can be made with poisonous chemicals and substandard manufacturing processes with dyes and materials that can make our children sick or worse. Recent news reporting throughout the country has shown that some teenagers have been overdosing in school on vapes laced with fentanyl.
As a retired Chicago police commander and a veteran law enforcement professional, I have dedicated my life to protecting our young people so that they can grow up happy and healthy. Part of that responsibility and commitment is trying to protect children from threats like drugs and alcohol that can threaten their development.
Our lawmakers and government must do more to help law enforcement in our efforts to keep dangerous illegal products out of our city. The FDA knows that disposable vapes are the face of the new teen vaping epidemic, but it hasn’t done enough to get them off our shelves.
Some lawmakers have started to take action. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin recently wrote to the attorney general and the FDA expressing his concern that the Biden administration has not acted swiftly enough to stop this scourge. In February, Florida U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick announced she is introducing new legislation to prompt urgent FDA action. Ohio U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown has also called to close the enforcement loophole. I hope that our elected leaders raise their voices too.
These days, it’s harder than ever to keep children focused and on the right path. Law enforcement professionals are doing their best, but resources are thin and responsibilities continue to grow. We need to take more aggressive action to take kid-friendly, disposable vapor products off our shelves and keep dangerous illegal products out of our community so that Chicago’s next generation can grow up happy and healthy.
____
ABOUT THE WRITER
Anthony Carothers is a retired police commander who served 28 years with the Chicago Police Department and four years with the Cook County sheriff’s office.
