FDA to Hold Public Hearing on Teen Vaping and Addiction Therapy

The FDA has announced that it plans to hold a public hearing on December 5. This public hearing is intended to share the how FDA intends to curb the wave in teen vaping and smoking, and what measures have been put in place to stop teen initiation into nicotine use as well as help those who are already addicted and want to break the habit. The FDA also wants to use the public hearing as an opportunity to receive input from different sections of the public, such as the medical community and other stakeholders, regarding the best ways to deal with the threat to public health as a result of the use of nicotine-containing products by minors. This announcement comes at a time when the available data shows that gains aren’t being made to keep teens off tobacco and ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery system) products. It is every parent’s wish that his or her child is protected from nicotine addiction, and the kids already addicted get all the help they need. The public hearing will show how far this can be attained realistically.

College Students Sign Petition for Their Mascot to Vape Instead of Smoking

Two students from the University of Miami are spearheading a petition which will see the university mascot (Sebastian the Ibis) given an electronic cigarette like Juul instead of having a pipe in its mouth like it has been in the past. Alex Castillo and Kevin Fernandes feel that the pipe is an “old-school” device which is out of touch with the current realities. Vaping is the in-thing, they say, and they want the university mascot to be updated to reflect this contemporary reality. The petition is running on Change.org and requires at least 200 signatures in order to compel the president of the students’ union to raise the matter with the higher levels of the university’s administration. Such petitions reveal how much vaping has become an integral part of life today to the extent that even students want it reflected in various aspects of campus life. I wonder what Sebastian the Ibis would feel about losing the tobacco pipe he has had for so long?!