With ongoing vaping epidemic across the United States, Melania Trump has joined the hands of public health officials expressing her concern about the use of flavored e-cigarettes among younger people.
On Monday, the first lady posted a tweet voicing her concern about vaping and calling for government action to prevent addiction.
She wrote, “I am deeply concerned about the growing epidemic of e-cigarette use in our children. We need to do all we can to protect the public from tobacco-related disease and death, and prevent e-cigarettes from becoming an on-ramp to nicotine addiction for a generation of youth. @HHSGov.”
The post quickly got thousands of retweets and likes, as she mentioned the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) to take necessary steps to prevent nicotine addiction among teens and younger adults.
Her tweet comes just a few days after public health officials requested people to refrain from vaping until they are able to identify why so many people are diagnosed with respiratory problems associated with vaping.
The officials have reported more than 450 cases of vaping-related lung disease, including five deaths so far across 33 states.
The investigation is ongoing and the officials are still identifying vaping ingredients or devices that are common in all cases of respiratory illnesses related to vaping; however, many were involved in flavored e-cigarettes containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive constituent of cannabis.
The public health officials have been under tremendous pressure to address the growing number of vaping-related illnesses. Last week, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois told Ned Sharpless, the acting head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to announce a ban on e-cigarettes or resign. According to the CDC, e-cigarettes could help adults and women who are not pregnant to quit smoking; however, they are unsafe for teenagers, pregnant women, and those who do not use any sort of tobacco products. The CDC has noted that researchers should learn more about the efficacy of e-cigarettes in helping to quit smoking. They also need to determine the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes.
