Skip to content

American Medical Association targets e-cigarettes, vaping among teens

AuthorAuthor
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:

The American Medical Association on Tuesday added its weight to efforts by officials nationwide, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, to make tobacco less attractive and available to young people.

The same day Emanuel’s administration was to file suit against eight companies it says sold e-cigarette products to people under age 21 in the past month, the AMA issued a statement “furthering its longtime commitment to preventing tobacco use amongst youth.” The Chicago-based group, at its fall meeting, adopted new policies aimed at making e-cigarettes and vaping less appealing to youths, including bans and strict restrictions on marketing to those under 21, according to a news release.

“The AMA is committed to keeping harmful tobacco products out of the hands of young people and we will continue to urge the (Food and Drug Administration) to ban flavors, as well as marketing practices, that enhance the appeal of these products to youth,” Dr. Albert Osbahr III, a member of the AMA’s board, said in the news release.

The move comes a day after Emanuel’s administration announced it would file the lawsuit against online retailers he says are illegally selling the products to underage Chicagoans.

Emanuel has long targeted tobacco products, including vaping products such as e-cigarettes, increasing taxes and raising the legal smoking age in Chicago from 18 to 21 in what he has framed as a fight against Big Tobacco’s push to hook kids on their products.

And the City Council passed an ordinance this spring requiring stores that sell tobacco and e-cigarettes to post signs explaining the dangers of smoking and including phone numbers smokers can call to get help quitting.

The AMA’s news release said it for years has strongly urged the FDA to extend its tobacco regulations and oversight to include e-cigarettes and cigars and ban the sale of such products to minors.

Also Tuesday, e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs released and implemented an action plan, which it said is aimed at combating underage use of its products by minors.

Juul spokesman Ted Kwong touted the steps the company is taking to not only comply with legislators but to step out ahead of the FDA.

“We share a common goal with (the) FDA to keep Juul products out of the hands of youth,” Kwong wrote in an email to the Tribune. “We cannot be more emphatic on this point: We don’t want anyone who doesn’t smoke, or already use nicotine, to use Juul products — especially youth.”

Still, he said, the product line is intended to improve the lives of current smokers, “with the ultimate goal of eliminating cigarettes.”

Emanuel in the past has been outspoken on the notion that e-cigarettes serve as an effective tool for those addicted to conventional cigarettes, dismissing it as another marketing ploy.

“This has nothing to do with quitting, nothing by the name, the marketing and how they channel and make sure, whether it’s online or in the retail space,” he said during the Monday news conference. “I have seen this, you have seen this, you’ve seen it from Joe Camel, you’ve seen it through the Marlboro Man. They actually know exactly what they’re doing. … They were trying to tell you this was about quitting. It’s about addiction.”

As part of its plan, Juul stopped accepting orders from all retail stores for flavors such as mango, fruit, crème and cucumber, seen as more popular with youth. The flavors now will only be available online where the company will have additional age-verification measures in place to ensure a consumer is 21 or older.

The company also will shut down all its social media accounts, said Kevin Burns, Juul Labs’ chief executive officer.

kdouglas@chicagotribune.com