A Federal Trade Commission report on e-cigarette products “paints a disturbing picture of surging e-cigarette sales and advertising that are likely to damage the health of America’s youth.” The FTC found that “flavored cartridges, nicotine concentration, and deep discounting surged between 2015 and 2018, likely fueling increased underage consumption.”
The report, which is based on industry data provided for the years 2015 to 2018, shows that total e-cigarette sales, including both disposable units and those using changeable cartridges, increased more than six-fold from $304.2 million to $2.06 billion in those three years alone. The sales of fruit and other flavored e-cigarette cartridges preferred by youth increased seven-fold over that time, and nicotine concentrations in disposable e-cigarette products also increased.
The press release, with a link to the full report, is here.