How to End This Youth Crisis
Parents can have a huge impact in the fight to end the youth e-cigarettes epidemic by speaking up. And there are many ways to make your voice heard — signing petitions to policymakers, participating in local campaign actions, sharing on social media, leveraging your voice in news media, and contacting your legislators. We’ve provided some options and guidance below.
Share on Social Media
Help spread the word about the youth e-cigarette epidemic by sharing these graphics on social media.
SUGGESTED COPY:
Here’s the math on youth vaping as students head #BacktoSchool👇
🚨 1.6 million kids use e-cigarettes
🍭 Nearly 90% use flavors
📈 Nicotine strength is skyrocketing
‼️ 6000+ illegal products on the market
Join the call for FDA action to protect kids: tfk.org/illegal-ecigs
SUGGESTED COPY:
It’s #BacktoSchool season and the last thing students should be dealing with is e-cigarettes. But kids are being targeted with fun flavors, massive doses of nicotine and even built-in video games.
Call for FDA action and join the fight to protect kids: tfk.org/illegal-ecigs
SUGGESTED COPY:
As students go #BacktoSchool, e-cigarettes are more kid-friendly and addictive than ever. Today’s e-cigs come in flavors, huge doses of nicotine and even video games — and most are illegal.
Join me in sending a message to the FDA that we need action now. tfk.org/illegal-ecigs
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One Juul pod contains the equivalent nicotine of 20 cigarettes — a highly addictive amount. Today, some e-cigs can contain more than nicotine than *200 cigarettes.*
Join me in sending a message to the FDA that we need action now. tfk.org/illegal-ecigs
SUGGESTED COPY:
Youth vaping is still a public health crisis, and one look at today's e-cigarettes shows why. Today’s devices come with flavors, huge doses of nicotine and even video games — and most are illegal.
Send a message to the FDA that we need action now. tfk.org/illegal-ecigs
SUGGESTED COPY:
Here’s the math on youth vaping as students head #BacktoSchool👇
🚨 1.6 million kids use e-cigarettes
🍭 Nearly 90% use flavors
📈 Nicotine strength is skyrocketing
‼️ 6000+ illegal products on the market
Join the call for FDA action to protect kids: tfk.org/illegal-ecigs
SUGGESTED COPY:
One Juul pod contains the equivalent nicotine of a pack of cigarettes — a highly addictive amount. Today, some e-cigs can contain more nicotine than *20 PACKS* of cigarettes.
Join me in sending a message to the FDA that we need action now. tfk.org/illegal-ecigs
Leverage Your Voice in the Media
There are many ways to have your voice heard in the media — you can respond to a timely newspaper article with a letter to the editor, express your opinion with an op-ed, or share your story with journalists.
Letters to the Editor from Parents:
- The F.D.A. Needs to Act on Vaping – The New York Times
- Letter: Children and teens vaping shouldn’t be normalized – San Jose Mercury News
- Letter to the Editor: Help curb teen vThe F.D.A. Needs to Act on Vaping – The New York Times
- Letter: Children and teens vaping shouldn’t be normalized – San Jose Mercury News
- Letter to the Editor: Help curb teen vaping – Delaware State News
- Letter to the editor: E-cigarettes are an epidemic for our kids – TRIBLive
- With flavored e-cigarette enforcement, Franchot acts like a governor should | Reader Commentary – Baltimore Sun
- Taking Action on E-Cigarettes – New York Times
- Letter: New York needs a ban on flavored tobacco – The Buffalo News
Op-eds from Parents:
- Op-Ed: Let’s call this youth vaping crisis what it is: A Juuling epidemic – Los Angeles Times
- Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes to Protect Our Children – The New York Times
- Commentary: End the youth vaping crisis before one more teen gets hooked — starting with that flavor ban the FDA promised – Chicago Tribune
- Hold the applause: E-cigs flavor ban is no ban at all – The Hill
- Why you should be worried if your teen smells like berries, cotton candy or mint – The Washington Post
Stories Featuring Parents:
- Trying to Curb a Teen Epidemic – U.S. News and World Report
- Do the Moms Fighting Against Big Vape Stand a Chance? – Mel Magazine
- What Juul’s Hiding – Scholastic
- If E-Cigs Were Romaine Lettuce, They’d Be Off The Shelf, Vaper’s Mom Tells Congress – NPR
- Getting Through to Your Teen About the Dangers of Vaping – The Wall Street Journal
- Parents, Advocates Protest Teen Vaping Outside JUUL Offices In Manhattan – CBS 2 New York
- In the ‘Juul room’: E-cigarettes spawn a form of teen addiction that worries doctors, parents and schools – The Washington Post
- When your child vapes, what’s a parent to do? – CNN
Contact Your Legislator
Phone Call Script:
Hi, my name is [NAME]. I’m a constituent from [TOWN]. I’m extremely concerned about the youth e-cigarette crisis in our country and how Big Tobacco is targeting my kid with flavored products. Today’s devices come in thousands of fun flavors, deliver massive doses of nicotine and can even include built-in video games – and most are on the market illegally. I’d like to encourage [YOU / LEGISLATOR NAME] to pay attention to this issue and work to pass legislation that will end the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products. Thank you for your hard work!
Email Template:
Dear [LEGISLATOR’S NAME]
I am writing about the need to address the youth e-cigarette crisis that is sweeping across our country and ask for your help in driving down youth tobacco use.
Big Tobacco targets our kids with flavored e-cigarettes, flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes. Colorful packaging and sweet flavors such as cotton candy, chocolate, gummy bear, and fruit make flavored tobacco products hard to distinguish from candy and other products kids like.
Today’s flavored tobacco products, especially e-cigarettes, are more kid-friendly and addictive than ever. These devices come in thousands of fun flavors, deliver massive doses of nicotine and can even include built-in video games – and most are on the market illegally.
Although tobacco companies claim to be responding to adult tobacco users’ demand for variety, flavored tobacco products play a key role in enticing kids to a lifetime of addiction. The facts are clear:
- Nearly 90% of youth who have used tobacco started with a flavored product.
- 1 in 10 high school students use e-cigarettes, and most of them use flavored products.
- Half of youth who ever tried smoking started with menthol cigarettes. Menthol cools and numbs the throat and masks the harshness of smoking, making it easier for kids to try cigarettes and eventually become addicted.
- Cigars – which come in hundreds of sweet flavors – are now the second most popular tobacco product among high schoolers.
This is undermining the nation’s progress in reducing youth tobacco use. Prohibiting all flavored tobacco products is one of the most important steps we can take to get this problem under control. I urge you to take a stand against all flavored tobacco products and do your part to help protect our kids.
Sincerely
[YOUR NAME]