Big Tobacco in the Dawn of 2020

 

After countless years of advocacy work, legislation and numerous deaths linked to smoking, President Donald Trump signed legislation on Dec. 20, 2019 that raised the federal minimum age for the sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21 years (https://tinyurl.com/y2ry74v8). Following shortly in early January 2020, the FDA announced that it would be tightening restrictions around electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). These restrictions would eliminate the sale of and prohibit any “cartridge-based ENDS products (other than tobacco and menthol-flavored products); all other ENDS products for which the manufacturer has failed to take (or is failing to take) adequate measures to prevent minors’ access; and any ENDS product that is targeted to minors or likely to promote use of ENDS by minors” (https://tinyurl.com/uncmdhp). This would pose a threat to e-cigarette manufacturers, retailers, and the Big Tobacco industry as a whole. 

As underage use of ENDS expanded during the mid and late 2010s, Big Tobacco sought to cash in on this growing consumer market. Most notably was Altria, owner of Phillip Morris USA, one of the largest cigarette companies in the United States, that purchasing a 35 percent stake in Juul for $12.8 billion (https://tinyurl.com/y2ogv7uq). With so much invested in the success of ENDS products, Big Tobacco companies pushed to expand this market as wide as possible using attractive product flavors, ease of use, and effective marketing strategies.

In direct correlation to the rise in underage use of ENDS devices, teens and even young-adult use of marijuana, specifically THC, related e-cigarette devices have increased. (https://tinyurl.com/y6r7oofy). In late October and early November 2019, several cases of an unexplained lung illness began popping up across the country. After further research, medical experts determined that these individuals were suffering from “E-cigarettes or Vaping product use Associated Lung Injury” or EVALI. The culprit of the EVALI cases was found to be Vitamin E Acetate, a thickening agent that was found in a combination of black market THC and nicotine e-liquid devices (https://tinyurl.com/y2b6srjo). In his typical reactionary method, President Trump expedited the legislation raising the minimum age for tobacco purchase to 21 and pressured the FDA to tighten regulations on flavored ENDS devices to combat not only the rising number of EVALI cases, but the mass epidemic of underage vaping.

With the emergence of the novel coronavirus in the United States, many smokers and vapers are reconsidering their habits due to the emerging data regarding the increased negative effects of COVID-19 on the lungs of smokers and vapers. This, in combination with increasing federal regulatory procedures and rules that Big Tobacco companies must follow and comply with to even get their products on the shelves, could entail a possible future decline in the tobacco industry. With all of the hardships and negativity in the world, these new regulations and federal laws can be seen as almost the “light at the end of the tunnel” for anti-smoking/vaping advocates who have fought for years just to raise the minimum age for purchase laws and can hopefully provide that movement with the energy it needs to continue to advocate for a healthier country.