Fortunately, USC has already alluded to certain biases prior to carry out the report:

• "Some USC students believe that vaping is a healthier alternative to tobacco smoking."
• Freshman Computer Science Business Administration student Stanton Cook says that he'd rather have people hooked on vaping rather than smoking cigarettes.
• "I think there's a big different between being addicted to e-cigarettes than to actually being addicted [to] cigarettes," said Cook in an interview.  "There's not that many chemicals in the actual vape."
• The researchers at USC will investigate the addictive properties of vaping so that students like Cook can have a better idea of what effect vaping has on the body."

On the other hand however, given the public opinion in the United States towards e-cigs, some aren't quite convinced that vapor products are a step in the right direction towards achieving a better public health environment.  Mary Ann Pentz is a professor of preventive medicine and director of the Institute for Prevention Research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC states "after decades of reducing use of tobacco products and cigarettes use, we now face anew emerging crisis in vaping, which exceeds the prevalence of cigarette use among young people..."  She continues, "without adequate regulation and control, the myriad of new vaping products threatens to undo progress to protect young people from tobacco."

Given both sides' position on the fate of vaping, one can almost make a generational distinction on its existence.  On one side, you have students that have grown up with e-cigarettes through their family or friends looking for that particular alternative to smoking.  On the other hand, you have the older generation that has lived through the cigarette smoking epidemic, now watching as a new product may potentially reverse decades worth of regulation.

Just a few weeks ago, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb declared youth vaping an epidemic and is currently threatening a halt of sales of flavored e-cigarettes unless manufacturers can show they are actively trying to prevent its use among underage individuals.  At the same time, the regulatory agency also shows an interest in prohibiting online sales of vapor products altogether as the FDA believes that access to these products still remains a massive problem.  Despite these two alarming statements from the FDA, one thing is certain: e-cigarettes, in the eyes of the FDA, might just be the effective alternative to combustible smoking.  The goal is to regulate the products in a way that restrict youth access.

Against that backdrop, USC intends to focus on the characteristics of the e-cigarette that might otherwise be attractive to youth but not quite remain attractive to adults.  The study will focus on youth-oriented e-liquid blends that possess child-appealing labels and images.  The study will also explore the social media landscape as a measure to gauge how manufacturers market their products.

The study participants will be residents of Los Angeles and surrounding communities that represent various races and socioeconomic backgrounds affected by tobacco.