Increased e-cigarette sales elevate concern about continued availability of flavored products

Nancy Brown, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association, a global force for longer, healthier lives, issued the following statement today in response to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC Foundation and the Truth Initiative showing sharp increases in e-cigarette sales—increases driven by sales of flavored products—in 2020-2022.

"This study confirms our worst fears that the tobacco industry would effectively circumvent existing regulations and continue to promote its dangerous and addictive products, which are especially appealing to kids. The 46.6% increase in e-cigarette sales between 2020 and 2022, driven significantly by increased sales of fruit-, candy- and dessert-flavored products, is shocking.

"The data demonstrate that the tobacco industry will exploit any opportunity to continue marketing its harmful products. A federal policy announced in January 2020 removed some flavored, cartridge-based e-cigarettes from the market, but excepted tobacco and menthol flavors and did not apply to refillable cartridges, disposables or open tank products. It should come as no surprise that under that policy, the market share of prefilled e-cigarettes decreased sharply while that of disposable e-cigarettes more than doubled.

"We need tougher enforcement against these flavored products, none of which has FDA authorization to be on the market. According to an American Heart Association scientific statement released last year, people who use e-cigarettes have an increased risk for multiple respiratory health issues, including higher rates of wheezing and cough, greater prevalence of asthma, increased susceptibility to pulmonary (lung) infections and increased incidence of respiratory disease.

"The trends revealed in this study demonstrate that it is long past time to remove all flavored e-cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products from the market."