Opinion: Ban Flavored Tobacco Products and Prioritize Our Kids’ Health

Jodi L. Radke, the director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains Region, shares the findings of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and Healthy Kids Colorado Survey in an opinion piece on the importance of banning flavored tobacco products in order to protect kids. 

In her column in the Loveland Reporter Herald, Radke notes that the YRBSS found that 32.7% of high school students were current e-cigarette users in 2019, up from 13.2% in 2017. She contrasts that statistic with the 3.2% national use of vaping products by adults.

“Eighty-one percent of kids initiate use of a tobacco product because it is flavored. There are more than 15,000 flavors for e-cigarettes on the market today,” Radke writes. 

See her piece in the Loveland Reporter-Herald >>