Comprehensive Plan to End Youth Vaping: A Joint Effort by the American Lung Association and the Ad Council

Strategic Insights -

A growing epidemic of youth vaping threatens the health and well-being of millions of American children, with over one in four high school students using e-cigarettes. The U.S. Surgeon General has classified this surge as a public health crisis, and the American Lung Association has announced a robust plan to end youth vaping. The plan includes a national awareness campaign with the Ad Council, Vape-Free Schools Initiative, targeted advocacy, and groundbreaking research.

Key Takeaways:

  • The American Lung Association's plan to end youth vaping has four components: education, advocacy, research, and awareness.
  • The plan includes a national awareness campaign with the Ad Council, titled "Get Your Head Out of the Cloud," to equip parents with the facts about e-cigarettes and support conversations before kids start to vape.
  • The Vape-Free Schools Initiative will provide vaping cessation assistance and alternative suspension programs for schools to address the surge of youth vaping.
  • The Lung Association will invest $2 million in research to understand the effects of vaping on developing lungs and the long-term health impacts of e-cigarettes on youth.
  • Policy change can prevent initiation and curb youth smoking and vaping rates dramatically, and the Lung Association will advocate for measures such as including e-cigarettes in all smokefree laws and taxes on e-cigarettes.
  • The Lung Association is partnering with Northwestern Medicine to study the longitudinal lung health of millennials, including the long-term impact of vaping, and with the NIH to enhance the study's capacity to examine early lung injuries related to vaping.

Statistics:

  • More than one in four high school students use e-cigarettes, setting them up for a lifetime of addiction.
  • The U.S. Surgeon General has classified this increase in youth vaping "an epidemic."
  • 27.5% of high school students use e-cigarettes.
  • Nearly 8,000 kids start vaping every day.
  • $2 million will be invested in research to study the effects of vaping on developing lungs.
  • $25 million will be funded by the NIH for a grant to study the longitudinal lung health of millennials, including the long-term impact of vaping.

Sources:

  • American Lung Association and the Ad Council
  • U.S. Surgeon General
  • C+R Research
  • Northwestern Medicine
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
  • Lung.org/end-youth-vaping (American Lung Association)
  • AdCouncil.org (Ad Council)