As a mother, former co-president of the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School PTA and majority leader on the Binghamton City Council, I am deeply concerned about the growing threat posed by flavored, disposable vapes. 

These products are designed to appeal to children, with many made to look like school supplies or video game consoles. Despite federal and New York State regulations that should keep these items off the market, enforcement has fallen dangerously short. The result? A public health crisis among our youth.

Across New York State, 18.7 percent of high schoolers vaped in 2022, but it is far from an isolated state problem. Nationally, more than two million children used e-cigarettes in 2023, including 10 percent of high school students and nearly five percent of middle schoolers. 

Of those students, an overwhelming 89 percent used flavored e-cigarettes. These products, often imported from China, are marketed directly to American consumers despite being illegal to sell in their country of origin. This is a glaring contradiction: they can’t be sold in China, but our kids are bombarded by them daily.

And make no mistake, these illegal vapes are designed specifically to create life-long nicotine users. They are bigger, stronger and cheaper. Many products have nicotine levels comparable to several cartons of cigarettes, while price drops caused by the flood of illegal, disposable vapes have nearly tripled the purchasing power for price-sensitive youth. This should not be happening. 

In 2020, the FDA mandated that all e-cigarette products must apply for and receive regulatory approval to remain on the market. To date, the handful of vapes that have received FDA approval for sale are either tobacco or menthol-flavored—meaning the multitude of fruity- and candy-flavored products on store shelves are being sold illegally. 

These are the products driving youth nicotine use but enforcement of these rules has been lax, allowing an explosion of these dangerous products. The number of disposable vape products has skyrocketed by 1,500 percent since the regulations went into effect—an increase that is not only shocking but wholly preventable if the FDA did its job. 

Also in 2020, the State of New York banned the sale of flavored vape products that had the strongest youth appeal.

The problem is not a lack of regulation. The issue is enforcement. Without the FDA and state authorities stepping up to prioritize the removal of these illegal products, youth vaping use will continue at unacceptable rates and New Yorkers want the state to act. Polling conducted earlier in the year by Siena College Research Institute shows that 53 percent of New York residents said authorities are doing only a fair or poor job in enforcing the state’s ban on flavored vapes. 

State authorities are not getting a passing grade, because parents of middle schoolers, high schoolers and even elementary schoolers know that their children are being exposed to nicotine addiction vehicles constructed for the sole purpose of enticing children. Talk to teachers at any school and they will tell you how rampant this problem is. 

 Our children’s health is too important to let illegal flavored, disposable vapes remain on store shelves unchecked. If we truly care about the future of our communities, then New York State must act now to enforce the laws already in place and the FDA needs to enforce existing regulations as well. The well-being of kids in New York depends on it. 

Kinya Middleton (D) is the Binghamton, NY City Council Majority Leader.