CHICAGO – As e-cigarette product use among America’s youth continues to soar, the American Medical Association (AMA) today calls on all media companies to reject future advertising related to e-cigarette and vaping products, particularly ads targeting young people. In the absence of federal regulations that would prevent marketing practices that enhance the appeal of e-cigarette products to youth, the AMA applauds the responsible stance that some media companies have already taken to suspend these ads and encourages others to follow suit.

“The use of e-cigarettes by young people is a growing public health epidemic that must be addressed. That’s why we’re calling on media organizations to help us promote public health and reject any advertisements that market e-cigarette products to youth,” said AMA President Patrice A. Harris, M.D, MA. “While we’re pleased to see some media companies denying e-cigarette product ads during the current lung illness outbreak, we also encourage them and others to extend bans on e-cigarette product ads beyond the outbreak to help stem the rising use of these products among youth.”

According to data from the 2019 Monitoring the Future study of students in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades published Sept. 18 in the New England Journal of Medicine, there has been a dramatic increase in nicotine vaping in all three grade levels within the past year. Overall, the survey found that e-cigarette use has doubled among teens since 2017, and that one in four high school seniors now reports vaping nicotine within the past month.    

The AMA has long called for e-cigarettes to have the same marketing and sales restrictions that are applied to tobacco cigarettes, including bans on television advertising. The AMA will continue to support policies and regulations aimed at preventing another generation of Americans from becoming dependent on nicotine. Most recently, the AMA endorsed the Stop Vaping Ads Act and urges Congress to take swift action to adopt legislation to ban e-cigarette product ads.