Fewer young adults started vaping after US flavour bans

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-01-06 03:00

International

Photo by Nery Zarate on Unsplash. Story by Rachel McDonald, Australian Science Media Centre

Bans on flavoured vapes in several US states over recent years appear to have reduced the rate of young adults taking up the habit, according to international researchers who say this was not the case for teenagers or particularly disadvantaged young people. The team surveyed teens, young adults (18-24) and adults aged 25+ who had previously never vaped from 2017 to 2023, looking at whether they picked it up over that time period, with several states implementing bans on flavoured vapes in 2020. The researchers say among the 18-24 cohort, the flavour bans were linked to a decrease in starting vaping, however this was not the case for younger or older cohorts. The team say these bans may have had less impact on teens because they were already banned from vaping due to their age and likely getting their vapes through illicit channels.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Wake Forest University, USA

Funder: This research was supported by grant R21DA059793 from the NIH and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products to principal investigators Drs Lin and Denlinger-Apte.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.