Sept. 3, 2025
In the face of a vaping crisis, three new physician-supported laws will deliver stricter oversight and regulation of e-cigarettes as their use becomes more prevalent and dangerous among adolescents.
More than 1.6 million middle and high school students use e-cigarettes in the U.S., per a 2024 Food and Drug Administration study. Additionally, data from the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey show millions of students are now addicted to these products, particularly the flavored options.
Set to take effect Sept. 1, the new laws aim to reduce teen use of vape products by limiting devices that resemble phones, school supplies, and gaming devices – and by eliminating e-cigarette ads displayed near schools and churches or targeting young people. Texas Medical Association (TMA) physicians advocated to pass these bills during the 2025 legislative session that targeted e-cigarette products and their advertising aimed at children.
Texas Public Health Coalition Chair and TMA’s Council on Science and Public Health Vice Chair Maria Monge, MD, who testified during the session on behalf of TMA and other medical groups in support of e-cigarette regulation, believes Texas took meaningful steps to curb youth use of vaping products.
“The more work we can put into just making access harder, the less likely adolescents are to become addicted,” said Dr. Monge.
To limit such access, lawmakers passed:
- Senate Bill 1316 by Sen. Molly Cook (D-Houston), which bans advertising e-cigarettes within 1,000 feet of a church or school, as required for other tobacco products;
- Senate Bill 1313, also by Senator Cook, which targets e-cigarette advertising specifically catering to minors – including imitations of trademarks or appearances of “products primarily marketed to minors” or “cartoon-like fictional characters,” per the legislation’s language; and
- Senate Bill 2024, by Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), which prohibits the sale of an array of products designed to resemble common objects like pens and smartphones that potentially appeal to children.
TMA told lawmakers e-cigarette and tobacco marketing with cartoon characters and candy imagery appeal to youth. Research links these marketing practices to increased e-cigarette use and perceived social benefits among teens, contributing to addiction. What’s more, since the products often look like everyday objects, it is easy for them to “be hidden in plain sight,” the trio of laws will help limit youth access to these harmful products.
The nicotine present in most e-cigarette products “disrupts neural development, affecting attention, learning, and impulse control,” which “can lead to lasting changes in brain function, increasing the risk of lifelong addiction and exacerbating mental health issues,” the physicians say.
Yet approximately half of adolescents who use e-cigarettes have made an attempt to quit in the past year, according to JAMA Pediatrics, highlighting the capacity of such legislative wins to help some young patients shed the habit.
“[We support these bills] as a proactive approach to reduce e-cigarette use in youth,” said Valerie Smith, MD, a pediatrician and former chair of the TMA Council on Science and Public Health. We support regulations that send a clear message: ‘The health of our children is not negotiable.’”
TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 59,000 physician and medical student members. It is in Austin and has 110 component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.
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See medical and legal disclaimerTMA Contacts: Brent Annear (512) 370-1381; cell: (512) 656-7320
Swathi Narayanan (512) 370-1382; cell: (408) 987-1318
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