By Christina Graham, MPH
Teens and tobacco: a concerning combination for decades. Throw in vaping — especially the flavored products — and the concern grows. The FDA says close to 11 million teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 have used e-cigarettes before or are open to trying them.
Thankfully, the FDA recently ordered vaping giant Juul to pull its vaping products from the U.S. marketplace, recognizing the risk that these tobacco products pose to young Americans. And, it is overwhelmingly young people who are using these products. According to research by the Truth Initiative, teenagers 15 to 17 years old are more than 16 times as likely to be current Juul users than adults.
The Juul ban is a huge milestone, particularly in addressing the tobacco industry’s predatory practices in engaging customers from marginalized groups. LGBTQ+ people, BIPOC people, and youth have all been targets of Big Tobacco. People living at the intersection of these identities are even more at risk.
Stigma and discrimination have left LGBTQ+ youth at risk for smoking, and Big Tobacco has targeted them based on these experiences. The Pennsylvania Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual high school students are more likely to have tried cigarettes and more likely to have tried them at a younger age. Findings from the Pennsylvania LGBTQ Health Needs Assessment show that more than 1 in 3 (35%) LGBTQ+ youth under 25 have ever tried an e-cigarette or vaping device, and of those youth, 40% still smoke e-cigarettes every day or some days.
Flavored vaping products, including menthol, cannot be overlooked as one of the key factors in teen and young adult tobacco use. Teens who vape almost always opt for flavored products. Sweet flavors and fruity scents are hiding an alarming truth. Many teens and young adults see these products as less harmful or less addictive than tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes and traditional combustible cigarettes. Marketing on social media and promotion by social media influencers have misrepresented Juul and other vape products as a safer alternative. Yet, flavored products — especially menthol — increase tobacco use, addiction, and challenges to quitting. E-cigarette users are also more likely to smoke combustible cigarettes in the future.
The tobacco industry targets young people to gain lifetime customers. In fact, the vast majority of smokers begin smoking before the age of 21. The industry additionally targets young people who are members of marginalized groups, knowing that minority stress leaves them more vulnerable to the falsely-advertised stress relief associated with tobacco use. Disparities rooted in adolescence persist into adulthood. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, and those outcomes disproportionately impact LGBTQ+ and BIPOC people.
In response to this health disparity impacting our community, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center has, with the support of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, developed a toolkit for engaging LGBTQ+ youth in tobacco prevention and cessation efforts. We’re working with LGBTQ+ community-based organizations, school advisors for GSA’s, and other youth-serving professionals across the state to get this data-driven resource into the hands of as many people as possible.
The toolkit incorporates discussion and activity guides, culturally-responsive educational materials, and how-to’s for youth to engage in health advocacy. The toolkit is built on a framework of empowerment education – seeking to build on LGBTQ+ youth’s strengths and assets to help them overcome the social factors that lead to poorer health outcomes. We know that tapping into LGBTQ+ youth’s creativity, passion, and care for community will activate them as powerful advocates for change.
Though more policymaking can certainly be done to protect the LGBTQ+ community from the tobacco industry, the FDA’s move to ban Juul’s vaping products from the U.S. marketplace is an important step forward. In the meantime, LGBTQ+ communities across the state can work together to push back against the tobacco industry’s attempts to lure young queer and trans folks. As a united community of LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians, we can support one another in living proudly and living longer.
Christina Graham, MPH (she/her) is the Data & Evaluation Manager at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown. She can be reached at [email protected].