Federal health authorities are celebrating that teenage vaping in the United States has reached a 10-year low.
About 1.63 million or 6% percent of middle and high school students said they are currently using e-cigarettes, down nearly 2% from 2.13 million last year.
This is the lowest level in a decade, and far below a peak of 20% in 2019.
The findings are from the latest results from National Youth Tobacco Survey, an annual school-based, self-administered online survey of U.S. middle and high school students conducted from January to May of this year.
“The continued decline in e-cigarette use among our nation’s youth is a monumental public health win,” said Brian King, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products, in statement. “This progress is a testament to the relentless efforts by the FDA, CDC and others, particularly over the past half decade.”
Of the youth who reported using e-cigarettes 26% said they used them daily and the majority’s (36%) preferred brand was Elf Bar.
The news comes as the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have worked to to decrease underage tobacco sales.
Most recently, the FDA raised the minimum age for certain rules regarding the sale of tobacco products. Starting Sept. 30, smokers under the age of 30 must show photo identification to buy tobacco products including e-cigarettes. Previously, retailers only had to verify with photo ID the age of customers under 27.
The change is part of the 2019 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act which raised the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21, from 18. The bill also directed the FDA to increase other age requirements for tobacco sales.
Over 95% of U.S. adults who smoke daily smoked their first cigarette by the age of 21, according to the FDA.
In a report in May, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the tobacco industry designed products that appeal to children and marketed them aggressively via social media, concerts and sporting events.
The WHO estimates that about 37 million people aged 13–15 years use tobacco.
Cigarette smoking is responsible for over 480,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the CDC.