E-cigarette brands and flavors popular among youths increased in sales by the millions per month.
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A study released Thursday found that overall e-cigarette monthly unit sales increased by 46.6 percent, from 15.5 million units in January of 2020 to 22.7 million units in December of 2022. This equated to an increase of 7 million units sold per month over the years.
“The dramatic spikes in youth e-cigarette use back in 2017 and 2018, primarily driven by JUUL, showed us how quickly e-cigarette sales and use patterns can change,” Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said. “Retail sales data are key to providing real-time information on the rapidly changing e-cigarette landscape, which is essential to reducing youth tobacco use.”
Officials found that more companies were being founded as they attempted to capitalize on the growing market. The number of brands increased, during the study period, by 46.2 percent, from 184 to 269.
The study found that prefilled devices decreased in sales, while disposable devices increased.
Sales of youth-appealing flavors increase as well, including fruit, candy, and dessert-flavored e-cigarette products.
“The surge in total e-cigarette sales during 2020-2022 was driven by non-tobacco flavored e-cigarette sales, such as menthol, which dominates the prefilled cartridge market, and fruit and candy flavors, which lead the disposable e-cigarette market,” Fatma Romeh Ali, a Health Economist at the CDC Foundation and lead author of the study, said.
The study showed that menthol-flavored e-cigarette sales remained stable and unit shares of tobacco-flavored and mint-flavored products decreased from 28.4 percent to 20.1 percent and from 10.1 percent to 5.9 percent, respectively.
Shares of other flavor sales, which included fruit, clove/spice, candy/sweets, and chocolate, however, increased from 29.2 percent to 41.3 percent.
“Data from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey also highlight the popularity of these flavored e-cigarettes among U.S. middle and high school students,” Ali continued.
“The tobacco industry is well aware that flavors appeal to and attract kids, and that young people are uniquely vulnerable to nicotine addiction,” Robin Koval, CEO and President, Truth Initiative, said. “While we are encouraged by FDA’s recent actions to curb unlawful marketing of flavored e-cigarettes, we all must work with even greater urgency to protect our nation’s youth from all flavored e-cigarettes, including disposables.”
Certain states and cities have brought upon legislation to prevent or restrict sales to youths.
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