Help Reduce Youth Nicotine Addiction

In 2020, around one in five high school students reported using e-cigarettes, and nearly 40% of those reported using them nearly daily.^[1] Youth and young adults are unknowingly becoming addicted to nicotine through e-cigarettes, with a majority unaware of the products’ nicotine levels.^[2]

New technology has allowed e-cigarette manufacturers to increase the amount of addictive nicotine in their products and the speed with which nicotine is delivered.^[3] Nicotine exposure before age 25 can harm parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control and can increase the risk for future addiction to other substances and the use of traditional cigarettes.^[4]

The Ending Nicotine Dependence from Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (END ENDS) Act would cap e-cigarette nicotine concentrations at 20 milligrams per milliliter to make e-cigarettes less addictive and appealing to youth. In comparison, Juul, the most popular e-cigarette brand in the U.S., contains 59 milligrams per milliliter, and other brands, such as popular disposable brand Puff Bar, claim to have similar or even higher levels of nicotine.^[5]

Send the letter below to ask your member of Congress to cosponsor the END ENDS Act (H.R. 3051) to help reduce youth nicotine addiction.

The bill would also allow the FDA to lower the cap further to minimally addictive or non-addictive levels and would encourage the FDA to successfully replicate international efforts to prevent youth from using e-cigarettes and to examine other ways to regulate the design and function of e-cigarettes to be less appealing to youth.

The rates of youth smoking have been declining for years and we were on the cusp of making this young generation the first to broadly reject tobacco use. Instead, rates are rising and too many young people have become hooked on nicotine products. We must do all we can to reverse this trend.