The 6th Annual E-Cigarette Summit in Washington, US.

On May 17, 2022, the sixth annual E-Cigarette Summit was held at the Marriott in Georgetown, Washington D.C. This year's summit featured both online and physical attendance options and ran from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST. The agenda included discussions on usage patterns and health, youth and science exchanges, regulation and tobacco control, public health, and policies.

With the announcement of the new director of the US Food and Drug Administration and the PMTA process reaching a critical point, 2022 could be a pivotal moment for the American electronic cigarette market. This shift will also have an impact on the future development of the global electronic cigarette market.

To facilitate a better dialogue, experts were invited to the summit to share their insights on topics such as legal regulation, underage protection, policy interpretation, and public health in the e-cigarette industry. These experts included Jamie.hartmann-boyce, a research scholar from the Oxford University Center for Evidence-Based Medicine, Kevin M. Gray, a behavioral science professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, former US Public Health Service Marine Corps Captain David L. Ashley, and Kathi Hoke, a professor at the Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland.

Tim Phillips from E-CigIntelligence discussed the current state of the electronic cigarette market in the United States as it relates to patterns and health concerns. He shared the latest market data on electronic cigarettes and other new nicotine products and answered questions in real time through an online platform.

How should underage protection be implemented? The summit invited experts from various fields to offer a fresh perspective on smoking behavior among children and adolescents. Professor of Behavioral Science Kevin M. Gray, M.D argued that information about e-cigarettes should be included in youth health education efforts, emphasising the importance of conveying the message that "while e-cigarettes may be safer than traditional cigarettes, this does not mean they are entirely safe.

The summit presented scientific data on the issue of dependency among teenagers, indicating that current data does not provide clear support for the belief that smoking cigarettes leads to dependency among young people, nor is there clear evidence to suggest that nicotine harms the cognitive development of teenagers.

At the same time, for the e-cigarette brands and distributors invited to the scene, regulation and public policy are their most concerned issues. State governments in the United States have been regulating tobacco for public health for decades, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only entered the field for less than 13 years.

Over the past year, the US FDA has taken action on millions of electronic cigarette PMTAs. However, the agency still has potential shortcomings in understanding key regulatory issues such as youth smoking, e-liquid flavors, and tobacco product risks. At an event, Kathi Hoke, a professor at the University of Maryland Carey Law School, discussed the current tobacco policy in the US and pointed out that "the FDA needs to rely on state and local governments to enforce tobacco regulations, while also hoping that local governments can provide innovative policy solutions.

In the past few decades, the known risks associated with smoking and combustible products have led the public health and tobacco control industries to share a common goal of ending the smoking epidemic. However, the emergence of electronic cigarettes and new nicotine products has sparked a binary debate between youth and adults, industry and public health.

The summit addressed the current controversial issues surrounding electronic cigarettes, covering various aspects of their impact. The gathering aimed to facilitate internal dialogue within the e-cigarette industry in the United States and beyond, analyzing the latest market data and exploring how to interpret these developments to promote the most effective public health and regulatory strategies. Through engaging in constructive debate, participants aimed to reach a consensus and promote a more effective, healthy, and regulated global e-cigarette industry in the future.

Editor: Liang Jiahui.

The conference's official website can be found at www.e-cigarette-summit.com/usa.