Thread by @ChaunceyGardner

Lets explore @FDATobacco infographics. These data come from @CDCTobaccoFree's National Youth Tobacco Survey.

US teen nicotine vaping increased in 2018 (to twice what it is today), so FDA's infographic focused on the percentage increase.
@DrWoodcockFDA

THREAD
👇👇👇

(2)
In 2019, US teen vaping increased again, but it's not clear WHAT they were vaping. @CDCTobaccoFree forgot to ask that in 2019, so much of this "increase" may be THC vaping, not nicotine.

This time there's a graph, huge letters saying "ALARMING," and an absolute number.

(3)
By 2020, US teen vaping had dropped 29%. This was before the pandemic hit (before schools closed).

@FDATobacco admits teen vaping dropped 1.8 million.
Daily use is obscured by hiding it under "current use." It's actually only 4.4%.

Oh. But "disposables SURGED!"

(4)
It's 2021. @CDCTobaccoFree just published a #COVID19 update. The 2020 survey found a 29% drop. Between 2020 and 2021, teen vaping dropped another 42%. Teen vaping just dropped 62% in two years. Here is the @FDATobacco infographic.

(5)
Now lets dissect this new @FDATobacco infographic on teen vaping. Does it tell the public teen vaping just dropped 62%? No.

Does it do something dodgy with daily use? Yes. So dodgy it confused @US_FDA's own Comms Team, journalists and Members of the US Congress.

(6)
So, now let's put this all together for 2019 (the peak of the teen vaping fad), 2020 and 2021. You can't miss it: Yup... That's a 62% drop in just two years.

Because of the way @FDATobacco (mis)communicated this, NOT ONE MAINSTREAM JOURNALIST HAS REPORTED IT. Strange no?

(7)
OK, but there are still 2 million teens vaping, and I agree that's too many. But are 2 million kids "addicted," as most Americans assume? No.

Let's get some perspective: 89% don't vape. 6% vape infrequently, so are not 'hooked.' 4.9% vape frequently. 3.1% vape daily.

(8)
If we truly cared about teen dependence, we would focus on daily use (most teen daily vapers smoked first but let's ignore that).

If we did that though, it would be impossible to portray this as a crisis. So govt officials only show the public "current use" (≥ once/month).

(9)
So... How does this all look if we put the inflated "current use" numbers together with daily use, and see how teen vaping changed over time? And what if we add some of the other things teens-should-not-do just to get some perspective? (e.g., drinking, pot, illicit drugs)

(10)
OK, now let's invert this whole thing using the same data to look at the number of teens who don't vape at all, and how that has changed since 2014.

Note that more US teens vaped nicotine in 2014 than today.

(11)
And, worth noting here that US teen smoking has dropped (coincidentally) far faster than historical trends over the past 10 years. Lowest in history now.

This means US total teen nicotine use (smoking+vaping) is now less than half what it was just 20 years ago.

(12)
Finally: The elephant in the room. Propaganda has convinced many Americans (including politicians) that the only reason nicotine vapes exist is to lure teens into a lifetime of the dreaded horror of nicotine addiction.

Americans are profoundly wrong about a lot of things.