Youth vaping ‘an existential threat’ to US e-cig industry, warns Gottlieb

The entire US e-cigarette industry could be wrecked by the country’s youth vaping “epidemic”, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb has warned.

Gottlieb highlighted in a tweet at the end of last week that according to federal surveys e-cigarettes have become the most commonly used tobacco product among young people.

He said: “These trends, if they continue into 2019 which I believe they are, represent an existential threat to the entire product category. The irresponsible actions of some product developers, allowing this use to continue till now, puts the entire opportunity at risk for adult smokers.”