The American Heart Association responded on June 24 to FDA's 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey, warning that declining youth tobacco use still leaves large flavored e-cigarette and nicotine-pouch denominators. [1][2]

The celebratory headline is not wrong. It is incomplete. AHA cited 2.01 million current youth tobacco users, 1.44 million current youth e-cigarette users, and 460,000 current youth nicotine-pouch users, with flavored products dominating both categories. [1]

MSM can report progress. X can litigate regulators, parents, schools, and personal liberty. The paper's contribution is arithmetic. Progress measured against a large denominator still leaves a policy problem.

That is especially true when flavors are not incidental. If 89.4% of current youth e-cigarette users and 90.8% of current youth nicotine-pouch users use flavored products, the flavor question is not a moral flourish. It is the product design at the center of youth use. [1]

The useful story is not panic or victory. It is the denominator that remains after the trend improves.

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago