Abstract

Authors: Tianyuan Guan, College of Public Health, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
and
M.B. Rao, Department of Biostatistics, Medical Informatics, and Data Science, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

Looking at the data that we have, over the years 2018 through 2023, alarming numbers of middle and high school students experimented with vaping (e-cigarette smoking). We want to fucus on three aspects of vaping and smoking.
1. What makes a pupil vape?
2. Time trend of cigarette and e-cigarette smoking among middle and high school students
3. Targeting of youth by cigarette and vaping companies to use their products
To address these questions, we use the published data, NYTS (National Youth Tobacco Survey) spanning six years.
On October 12, 2021, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved Vuse Solo, an e-cigarette smoking facilitator, produced by RJ Reynolds Vaping Company, for selling along with cartridges and refills. In addition, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) gave permission to let RJ Reynolds Vaping Company advertise its products. The approval is a blow to public health. The company justified the product on the grounds that vaping might help cigarette smokers wean themselves from cigarette smoking. We dispute the statement. We observed that the predominant reason for a pupil to take to vaping is to calm the nerves when wracked with anxiety. We exhort Health Policy proponents to focus on anxiety issues among pupils.
Another goal of our research is to monitor the numbers of replacement smokers over a span of six years, which includes the pandemic years 2020 and 2021. The phrase “replacement smokers” appeared in an internal document of R.J. Reynolds tobacco company, a major U.S. cigarette maker. The document (RJR report, 1984) stressed the importance of tapping youngsters to smoke for the survival of the company and its brands to replenish the dying smoking ranks.
One startling statistic that emerges from our data analysis is that an estimated 25% of pupils experimented with smoking a cigarette or e-cigarette over the period of our study. The e-cigarette gadget has a liquid nicotine, which is addictive. It is all the more important to dissuade our pupils desist smoking.