PAVe: Big Tobacco Messed with the Wrong Moms Parents Against Vaping E-Cigarettes

This week’s episode highlights Sara, a New York State pediatrician who has been fighting the tobacco industry’s targeting of teens on multiple fronts: as a doctor seeking to protect her patients; as a PAVe volunteer warning other parents; and, most importantly, as a mom desperate to help her college-age son quit vaping.

Decades ago, tobacco Industry research revealed that menthol amplifies nicotine addiction, especially in African Americans; the more melanin in a smoker’s skin, the greater menthol’s impact. Armed with this knowledge, Big Tobacco methodically marketed menthol combustible cigarettes to African Americans; the more melanin in a smoker’s skin, the greater menthol’s impact.(In 2009, when the federal government banned flavored cigarettes, menthol was the blatant exemption.)Last April, a...

This is the last chance for parents to make our voices heard before FDA rules on JUUL!Between now and September 9th the agency must decide whether or not to approve Juul and any flavored e-cigarette. Over the last several weeks, over two thousand parents have signed our letter urging FDA to deny all applications for these dangerous products. In this week's podcast episode, part of our “Back to school, not back to Juul” campaign, we interview Dr. Rachel Boykan, Clinical Professor, of Pedi...

On today’s episode, Bloomberg News investigative reporter Lauren Etter discusses “The Devil’s Playbook: Big Tobacco, Juul, and the Addiction of a New Generation”. With FDA poised to rule on JUUL’s applications for its menthol and tobacco flavored products, Etter’s new book provides a deep dive into how the collision of Silicon Valley values and the industry’s predatory behavior created an adolescent public-health crisis that could impact our kids for years to come. Says Etter, a mom of t...

In 2016, Paula’s son Walter had just started high school in Delaware when a friend offered him a cool-looking flavored e-cigarette that had just come on the market: a JUUL. Walter, a twin, and one of Paula’s four children, was almost immediately addicted, often vaping multiple mango or menthol JUUL pods every day. Walter’s asthma, largely under control since childhood, returned with a vengeance: the more Walter vaped, the more severe his asthma attacks. The final a...

On this week’s episode, we hear the story of a Connecticut mom struggling to save her son from his nicotine addiction as a result of flavored e-cigarette products. Kathy from Connecticut’s story shows us that we are not alone and when we stand up and fight back against Big Tobacco, just how powerful we can all be.