In news that will leave most people quietly smiling, a top prosecutor has vowed to engage in a major crackdown to get e-cigarettes off the hands of school children. This comes hot on the heels of a new study which shows that use the substances among school going children in the U.S. has more than tripled.
The New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman says that he is working with several manufacturers of the products to help keep the products away from school going kids. According to the AG, at least four major e-cig manufacturers in his state have agreed to put their liquid nicotine in child-resistant packaging to stop children from accessing them in the first place.
In a recent study whose findings were released by the CDC, it was reported that the use of E-Cigs among school going children has increased significantly. In fact, the use of these products has more than tripled among middle school children. The research was conducted by the National Tobacco Youth Survey (NTYS) who later reported their findings to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
When releasing the findings, Dr. Tom Frieden, who is a director of the CDC, said that this shows just how many the children need support.
“We want every parent to know that nicotine is dangerous to kids, irrespective of where it comes from – whether it’s an e-cigarette,” he said. “Adolescence is a critical stage for the development of the brain. Taking nicotine at this stage would cause permanent harm to the development of the brain, promote addiction, and contribute to sustained tobacco use.”
According to the NTYS survey, children at this stage view e-cigs as a more “acceptable” alternative to conventional tobacco products. The products are easily available from the several merchants, most of whom use electronic cigarette merchant accounts to accept payment.
If AG Eric’s plans go as planned, the distribution of e-cigarettes within New York could change to the benefit of everyone who cares for the children. He is seeking to force e-cig companies to remove from distributorship all liquid nicotine in improper packaging. The four companies that are already cooperating with the AG and which are likely to start distributing child-resistant packaging are Henley Vaporium, Beyond Vape, Rocket Sheep, and ECig Distributors Inc. We can only wait to see if the plan is successful.