Backed by a three-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the scholars aim to address a paradox presented by the required warnings.
Health officials want to discourage adolescents, among whom vaping has reached epidemic levels, from developing nicotine addictions through e-cigarettes. But they don’t want to scare off adult smokers for whom e-cigarettes might represent a healthier alternative to combustible cigarettes.
“You have this potential therapeutic use for one population and a harmful use for another,” said Jeff Niederdeppe, associate professor of communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “The trick is, how do you deter young people from starting but not prevent smokers from trying to quit through using e-cigarettes?”
Niederdeppe and Sahara Byrne, professor of communication in CALS, are the study’s principal investigators. Co-investigators are Michael Dorf, the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell Law School; Rosemary Avery and Alan Mathios, professors of policy analysis and management in the College of Human Ecology; and Amelia Greiner Safi, M.S. ’06, lecturer in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences.
Their work is unfolding during a period of fast-moving legal and medical developments concerning vaping that have made headlines in recent months.
On Jan. 2, the Trump administration announced a ban on the sale of most flavored e-cigarette cartridges, excluding menthol and tobacco flavors.
Numerous state and local governments have cracked down on e-cigarettes with flavors such as mint, candy, fruit and chocolate – the most popular among young people now using the products at “alarming levels,” according to the FDA and Centers for Disease Control.
The agencies’ 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that more than 5 million students – 27% of high school students and 10% of middle school students – report being regular e-cigarette users. Youth e-cigarette use has “increased dramatically,” undermining progress in reducing overall tobacco use, the agencies said.
