E-cigarette use, or “vaping,” is on the rise among high school students.  Did you know 13% of high school students report having tried e-cigarettes?  These devices may not smell like smoke, but they’re being made by big tobacco companies.  With flavors like bubble gum and cotton candy, they’re appealing to our youth.  And they all are filled with some combination of toxic chemicals including nicotine.  Nicotine exposure at an early age has been scientifically proven to increase the likelihood of long term smoking and addiction and affect brain development. Furthermore, poison control centers have seen liquid nicotine poison calls increase tenfold from 2011 to 2014.  

Despite the known damaging effects of chemicals in e-cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration as well as the District of Columbia have yet to regulate e-cigarettes: there is currently nothing to stop a 15 year old in DC from buying bubblegum flavored e-cigarettes loaded with nicotine.

We demand that the DC City Council take action and protect our youth.  Tell the City Council that Big Tobacco should not be selling their nicotine to our kids.