The new head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is under fire after claiming that in some high schools “half of the kids are addicted” to vaping.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Dr. Martin Makary, wrote: “There are high schools in America now where kids are saying half of the kids are addicted to these vaping products. We cannot get burned again like we did on opioids.”
Source: X
His post linked to a May 22 speech he made to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.
At the hearing in Washington D.C., Dr. Makary sounded the alarm over illegal Chinese-made vaping products that he says are designed to hook children on nicotine. “These illegal Chinese vaping products are designed to attract children,” Makary said. He described them as “video game vaping products” with inhalation ports meant to addict young users while they play.
Holding up a disposable vape, Dr. Makary detailed how products banned in China still make their way into U.S. markets: “These products show up in U.S. ports.. The FDA says, ‘these shouldn’t be coming into our country, so we’ll put them back on the ship.’ But that ship just goes to another U.S. port and comes in again.. It’s been a joke, and they’ve been laughing at us.”
Dr. Makary said the FDA is now working with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to stop simply returning illegal products and instead seize and confiscate them.
“We’ve got to get serious about this,” he said. “These are designed to get kids addicted. There are kids in America today who are addicted, they know they’re addicted, and they come from good families, they’re good kids, and they can’t stop.”
Exaggerated claims
Making the claim that he later repeated on X, Dr Makary continued: “There are high schools in America where kids are saying half of the kids in high school are addicted to these vaping products. So we cannot get burned again like we did on opioids and vioxx and other things.”
However, harm reduction advocates and public health experts were quick to challenge Makary’s numbers.
According to recent federal surveys, about 10 per cent of high school students report current vape use, and only about three per cent vape daily – numbers far below the dire picture Dr. Makary painted.
Gregory Conley, a prominent harm reduction advocate, responded on X: “Seize all the vape video games you want, @DrMakaryFDA. Vape phones. Vape smartwatches. If vape sneakers exist, take those too. But 20 million American adults just want to vape from a normal-looking, single-function device – and the vast majority of them want flavors.”
‘Anecdotes are not data’
While Dr. Makary’s hardline stance on vaping aligns with the U.S government’s efforts to crack down on youth nicotine use, critics warn that exaggerating the scale of teen addiction risks spreading harmful misinformation.Conley added on X: “Anecdotes are not data. Youth vaping is at its lowest level in a decade. That doesn’t mean the problem is solved and we do nothing, but we also don’t go before Congress and nearly 10x the actual youth vaping numbers.”
