E-cigarette users turn to social media to circumvent flavor restrictions

According to research by the American NGO Truth Initiative[1], published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health[2], many e-cigarette users have taken to social media to share strategies for getting around the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) ban on the sale of flavors for vaping products.

The researchers identified more than 166,000 posts and comments between May 2019 and May 2020 on the r/JUUL subreddit, using keyword filters to find discussions specifically about flavored e-cigarettes and strategies to circumvent flavor policies. Reddit is an online discussion platform with more than 440 million active users that hosts topic-specific forums called subreddits. Of the 166,000 posts and comments, 33,000 were identified as being relevant to flavors, while 7,500 were explicit discussions about how to circumvent the FDA’s policy banning flavors.

Tips for getting around regulations and finding alternatives

The FDA first issued a directive removing all flavored e-cigarette pods from the market in January 2020 (with only tobacco and menthol flavors remaining), and then in June 2022 the FDA announced a ban on the sale of JUULs, before suspending the decision after a few weeks. These directives impacted the availability of many JUUL flavors and flavored pod products.

The study found that more than one in three people (39 %) of the 7,500 messages asked for advice on possible replacement brands for disposable e-cigarettes and pods (compatible with JUULs that were still authorized for sale) offering the newly unavailable flavors. The exchanges concerned, in particular, Vuse and Smok, the two most popular e-cigarette brands after JUUL and Puff Bar, but also Caliburn, Voopoo, Novo and OVNS, a brand of refillable pods compatible with JUULs.

Nearly a quarter (23 %) of the messages offered advice on product availability in states and localities where the ban had recently gone into effect, such as Massachusetts and Michigan; 20 % discussed purchasing products online; and 16 % discussed importing products from other countries (Canada, Russia, the United Kingdom). Four % of the messages mentioned stockpiling or bulk purchases, and 2.5 % discussed counterfeit pods.

Some disposable puff-type e-cigarettes are not subject to the same bans, and have taken market share from JUUL. In total, high school use of disposable e-cigarettes increased by 1,000 % in 2019-2020.

Call for stricter policies on flavored nicotine products

According to the NGO, monitoring discussions on social media allows us to assess public reactions, and especially the limits of new regulations. This study also highlights the need for comprehensive, unwavering policies on flavors for vaping products, which is not currently the case in the United States. Only a complete flavor ban policy will counter this epidemic explosion in the use of disposable e-cigarettes by young people. The tobacco industry uses flavors to attract young people, which young people confirm by reporting that flavors are one of the main reasons they start vaping.

Tags: USA, FDA, flavors, social media, Reddit, e-cigarettes, puff, vaping

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[1] Truth Initiative, E-cigarette users look to social media to circumvent flavored e-cigarette restrictions, published on August 5, 2022, consulted on August 9, 2022

[2] Silver, N.; Kucherlapaty, P.; Kostygina, G.; Tran, H.; Feng, M.; Emery, S.; Schillo, B. Discussions of Flavored ENDS Sales Restrictions: Themes Related to Circumventing Policies on Reddit. Int. J. Approx. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 7668. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19137668