Lisa Ciarlone

The @US_FDA and @CDCgov continue focusing heavily on teen vaping stats, but critics argue they ignore the bigger picture: adult smokers switching away from cigarettes. Youth vaping has dropped significantly from its peak. In 2019, over 27% of high school students reported vaping. By 2024, that number fell to about 7.8%. Meanwhile, adult cigarette smoking in the U.S. has dropped to under 10%, one of the lowest rates ever recorded. Millions of adults now use vapor products instead of combustible cigarettes. Critics say regulators should ask not only “How many teens vape?” but also “How many adults stopped smoking because they switched?” Cigarettes are still linked to roughly 480,000 U.S. deaths per year, yet vaping discussions are often framed almost entirely around youth use while adult harm reduction gets far less attention. No one wants kids using nicotine products. But public health policy should look at the full equation honestly and transparently. A balanced approach would focus on preventing youth access while also recognizing the difference between combustible cigarettes and non-combustible alternatives for adults trying to quit smoking. #FDA #Vaping #HarmReduction #PublicHealth #VapeNews #vaoecommunity #knowthefacts

In 2019, lung injuries were wrongly blamed on nicotine vaping. The real cause? Black market THC concentrates. It’s time for honest, evidence-based conversations about harm reduction. #VAEP #VapingFacts #HarmReduction #ScienceMatters #VapeTruth #VAEPinfo VAEP.info

Several senators recently called on the FDA to remove flavored smoke-free nicotine products. Yet many of the states they represent have legalized recreational marijuana for adults 🌿 and adopted thoughtful regulatory approaches focused on education, enforcement, age restrictions, and controlled adult access instead of outright prohibition. These same states also allow marijuana products sold in countless flavors, including candy, fruit, dessert, beverage, mint, and gum-flavored THC vape products and edibles 🍬🍓🥤. Yet they are not calling to ban flavored marijuana products in the states they represent. According to state youth survey data 📊, youth marijuana use in many of these same states is equal to or higher than youth vaping rates. National youth vaping has also plummeted 📉 in recent years. Daily youth vaping is now down to approximately 1.4%, representing roughly a 74% decline over the past six years according to national survey data. Meanwhile, cigarettes still kill more than 8 million people globally every year and over 480,000 Americans every single year 🚬. Cigarettes remain the deadliest legal consumer product ever sold and are still sold in virtually every corner store in America. Of course, nothing is better than breathing clean fresh air 🌲. For adults who already smoke cigarettes, however, switching completely to a smoke-free nicotine product may reduce exposure to many of the harmful chemicals produced by combustion. Adult smokers matter too 👥. Public health policy should be evidence-based, consistent, and focused on reducing disease and death while continuing to keep these products out of the hands of youth.

Cigarettes are the deadliest consumer product ever sold, killing over 8 million people globally and more than 480,000 Americans every year. 🚬💀🪦 ✅️ Combustion is what causes most smoking-related disease. Burning tobacco creates smoke containing tar, carbon monoxide, and thousands of chemicals, including many known carcinogens linked to cancer, COPD, and heart disease. Because vaping does not involve combustion, it generally exposes users to far fewer harmful chemicals than cigarette smoke.☠️ 🚨📈When doctors spread misinformation about tobacco harm reduction, they risk pushing people back to cigarettes, the product responsible for the overwhelming majority of tobacco-related deaths. So while you’re sitting in your Audi making TikToks about your education, understand that spreading misinformation about vaping ultimately benefits cigarette sales, not public health. 🙄

The price of an education in the US has become shockingly unaffordable but there are still ways to make it. I strongly suggest for you to consider attending public high school, state college, state medical school any chance you can get to minimize yo...

Posts like this can push people back to smoking by spreading myths instead of facts. You took an oath to do no harm, yet there has never been a confirmed case of “popcorn lung” linked to nicotine vaping or even smoking cigarettes, despite cigarettes containing far higher levels of diacetyl than vapor products ever did. The 2019 EVALI outbreak was linked to illicit THC products contaminated with vitamin E acetate, not nicotine vaping.

Popcorn lung (bronchiolitis obliterans) can be a serious, irreversible lung disease caused by inhaling chemicals—specifically diacetyl—often found in flavored e-cigarettes. It causes scarring and inflammation in the smallest airways (bronchioles), le...

@ChaunceyGardner @doctorjesss983

@doctorjesss983 Show me one peer-reviewed case study of a patient who developed "popcorn lung" from vaping nicotine over the past two decades of use in the USA. 21 million adults vape nicotine now, so if this was a thing, there would be cases. THERE ARE NONE. It's a myth.

@joaniej0243 @smokevapeutah @JMacNYC Congratulations on quitting smoking after 40+ years. That is an incredible accomplishment and something to be proud of. 👏❤️ Thank you for sharing, stories like yours are exactly why these conversations matter and need to be heard.

@LisaCiarlone @smokevapeutah @JMacNYC I quit in spring of 2019 with vaping. I smoked for 40+ years, I was 55 at the time. When they started that highly funded vaping propaganda campaign I went into panic mode. I stocked and even learned DYI. Still vaping 7+ years later. (TG)

After pumping more than $1B into a truly maniacal crusade of orchestrated deceit, rigged research, astroturf, lobbying, bribed journalism, institutional capture, and political subterfuge, he finally admits it. x.com/business/statu…

This is the way. x.com/joaniej0243/st…

Adults choosing flavored smoke-free products to move away from cigarettes is not “stealth teen marketing.” That argument ignores the millions of adults who smoke or formerly smoked. 🚬 Youth access prevention matters and should be strictly enforced. At the same time, adults deserve options other than combustible cigarettes, which still kill more than 480,000 Americans every year.

@WSJ Flavored vapes back on shelves... adult "choice" or stealth teen marketing? Pick a lane and stop pretending it's not both. lol

The Trump administration is easing its crackdown on flavored e-cigarette cartridges. Public-health experts warn of health risks. on.wsj.com/4nJh7Wg

You know what else is harmful? Cigarettes. 🚬💀 They still kill more than 480,000 Americans every year and over 8 million people globally. That is the actual public-health disaster. Nobody said smoke-free nicotine products are risk-free. The issue is whether adults should have access to lower-risk alternatives instead of being pushed back toward combustible tobacco.

@WSJ That stuff is harmful

Who is going to speak up for the more than 480,000 Americans who will die this year from smoking-related disease and the millions more who will die in the years ahead because combustible cigarettes still remain widely available everywhere? 🚬💀 It is hard to take “pUbLiC hEaLtH eXpErTs” seriously when so much of the outrage is directed at smoke-free nicotine alternatives while policies continue pushing products off the market that many adults use to move away from smoking. 🤔 Studies have shown that restrictive flavor policies can push some adults back to smoking or discourage smokers from switching in the first place. Actions speak louder than words. When lower-risk alternatives become harder for adults to access while cigarettes remain widely available everywhere, people are going to start questioning whether these policies end up protecting cigarette sales. 📉🚭➡️🚬 Youth prevention matters. Responsible regulation matters. Adults trying to escape addiction to the deadliest consumer product ever sold should matter too. ❤️

A friend of mine who was a longtime smoker finally switched away from smoking two packs of cigarettes a day after years of trying. She had been almost completely off cigarettes for about a month before Massachusetts first banned vaping products, then later implemented the flavor ban. Then the fear campaigns and misinformation surrounding the 2019 illicit THC lung illnesses exploded everywhere. She also could no longer get the product that helped keep her away from cigarettes. She went back to smoking and later died from complications related to COPD at just 52 years old. After billions spent attacking vaping, how many stories like this were ignored? Adults who smoke matter too. Rest in peace, Kim. This one was for you. 🙏🌹

@JMacNYC Millions of unnecessary deaths later.

You know what is actually 'deadly"? Cigarettes, the deadliest legal consumer product ever sold on the planet. ☠️ ✅️ Smoking still kills more than 8 million people globally and over 480,000 Americans every single year. 🚬💀🪦 ✅️ Smoking has killed more people than HIV, illegal drugs, alcohol, car crashes, gun violence, and many wars combined, yet cigarettes remain perfectly legal and sold on nearly every corner. 🚭 You know what would actually be a monumental public health victory? Eradicating cigarette smoke and ending the death and disease caused by smoking. 📉 ❌️ Nobody wants kids using nicotine or any other adult product, but scaring adult smokers away from potentially less harmful smoke-free alternatives while cigarettes continue killing millions every year is not public health. 🚨 Meanwhile, Bloomberg Philanthropies launched a $160 million campaign against flavored vaping products while venture capital groups connected to Bloomberg-backed networks were reportedly tied to pharmaceutical-style vapor products like Hail/Hale seeking FDA approval. 💰👀 🤔 At the same time, organizations you heavily funded support or collaborate around FDA-approved flavored nicotine lozenges, gums, pouches, and flavored products like Blip, marketed to 18+ young adults. ✅️ After pouring millions into anti-vaping campaigns and pushing flavor bans across the country, studies have found some flavored vape restrictions were associated with increases in cigarette smoking. 📈🚬 So no, Mike, people are no longer buying the idea that this was ever just “about the kids.” 🚨 The double standard is becoming impossible to ignore. 👀

.@MikeBloomberg: Banning flavored e-cigarettes was a monumental victory for public health. The FDA's reversal will be deadly for kids (via @opinion) bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

@SenSanders I firmly believe that,much like here in Pa, you just don't wanna lose the tax revenue gotten from sales of combustible tobacco. Just like this: x.com/i/status/20165…

Another study showing vaping triples smoking cessation. @drjoesDIYhealth @Anne_Ruston @caphraorg neurosciencenews.com/nicotine-eciga…

@mcherup @Vaporadvocate @FDA_Track @SenBlumenthal @SenJeffMerkley Yep!

@LisaCiarlone @Vaporadvocate @FDA_Track @SenBlumenthal @SenJeffMerkley The Cigarette Protection League, made up of State Governments, NGOs, FDA, and of course big tobacco, need them $$$$

BLUMENTHAL & MERKLEY LEAD GROUP OF 10 SENATORS IN DEMANDING FDA REVERSE DANGEROUS AUTHORIZATION OF FLAVORED E-CIGARETTES - Merkley merkley.senate.gov/es/blumenthal-…

@SenSanders As a Senator, you can officially ask @CDCgov to tell you what their teen and adult use surveys show. Get your staff to write the letter. Here is what you will discover: Teen use of deadly cigarettes has dropped to a 50-year low. Teen vaping has dropped to a 12-year low.

@SenSanders Flavored vapes don’t endanger the lives of Americans to the contrary, we could be a smoke free country if we wanted to. Please take a look at science and have a better understanding of this topic. @SmokeFreeSweden smokefreesweden.org

This should not be a left versus right issue. Harm reduction should never be political. Smoking cigarettes remain the deadliest legal consumer product ever sold and continue to kill more than 480,000 Americans every single year. Tobacco use has killed an estimated 100 million people globally over the last century, more than both World Wars combined. 🚬💀🪦 This issue is much bigger than politics. Nobody wants kids using nicotine products. The goal should always be better public health overall. ✅️ Marijuana is legal in your own state, where adults are trusted to purchase regulated products under an age-restricted system. According to Vermont’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 22% of high school students reported marijuana use in the past 30 days, while 16% reported e-cigarette use in the past 30 days. ➡️ Where is the outrage that more high school students are using marijuana than nicotine vaping, while youth vaping rates continue to decline nationally? 📉 Meanwhile, youth vaping has plummeted nationally, with daily youth vaping now around 1.4%. Adults who smoke matter too. Their lives matter. Their families matter. Public health policy should focus on strict age enforcement and responsible regulation, not eliminating reduced-risk alternatives for adults trying to move away from cigarettes.

Vaping is a major health hazard for kids. But if you're Big Tobacco, you can spend $10 million to elect Trump & he'll make it legal for you to sell flavored vapes that endanger the health of Americans. If you're a 62-year-old couple whose premiums quadrupled? Tough luck.

Great thread. Also, vaping products first entered the U.S. market around 2006–2007, meaning we are now approaching nearly 20 years of real-world adult use. If these products were causing health effects anywhere near the scale of smoking cigarettes, we would already be seeing clear population-level signals by now. Instead, what we continue to see is smoking-related disease and death overwhelmingly tied to combustible tobacco, the deadliest consumer product ever sold. That does not mean vaping is risk-free, but there is a major difference between combustion and non-combustion, and that distinction matters for adult smokers seeking a less harmful alternative.

@dilanesper Is the jury still out on the health effects of vaping? It’s only been around 15 years since vapes became widely available. We probably won’t have a solid grasp on long-term health outcomes for another 15.

Since a bunch of people in my feed are arguing about vaping, it's worth setting out some first principles here. The basic one is this: society did extraordinary things to reduce tobacco smoking, and it was because of the combination of TWO things: addictiveness and deadliness.