‘We must protect our children’ from ‘historic epidemic’ – US surgeon general

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams picked up the now familiar language of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb when he declared youth vaping “officially an epidemic” in an advisory on e-cigs.

In a highly emotional speech, Adams described e-cigs generally as a development by the tobacco industry that is easily concealable.

Flashing the audience a Juul, he talked about the decline in smoking, and the “historic and unprecedented” increase in e-cig use, following the tone set in the introduction by health and human services secretary Alex Azar.

“I pledge to you, as your surgeon general, to use my bully pulpit to protect our children from a lifetime of nicotine addiction and associated health risk by immediately addressing the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use,” Adams said.