Campaign vape trail

California has launched a series of TV, digital and outdoor ads decrying the health risks of e-cigarettes in a massive campaign titled “Wake Up.”

The California Department of Public Health campaign comes on the heels of a CDPH advisory highlighting concerns regarding e-cigs, including the rise in their use among California’s teens and young adults, their addictive nature, and a surge in accidental poisonings of young children, according to a CDPH press release. Other specific concerns are the candy- and fruit-flavored e-cigarettes that may entice a younger generation to become addicted to nicotine and the fact that e-cigarette manufacturers aren’t required to disclose ingredients.

Dr. Karen Smith, the new director of CDPH, said California has long led the nation in tobacco prevention, but “the aggressive marketing and escalating use of e-cigarettes threatens to erode that progress.”