E-cigarettes use has doubled amongst middle and high school student in the U.S. between 2011 to 2012, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.
"These data show a dramatic rise in usage of e-cigarettes by youth, and this is cause for great concern as we don't yet understand the long-term effects of these novel tobacco products," said Mitch Zeller, director of FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, in a news release. "These findings reinforce why the FDA intends to expand its authority over all tobacco products and establish a comprehensive and appropriate regulatory framework to reduce disease and death from tobacco use."
The CDC findings from the National Youth Tobacco Survey were published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. According to the health agency, electronic cigarette use has gone up from 4.7 percent to 10 percent within the one year period.
The percentage of U.S. middle and high school students who use electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling," said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., in a news release. "Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes."
The report adds that 76.3 percent of middle and high school students who used e-cigarettes are more likely to smoke "conventional" cigarettes. According to the CDC, 1 in 5 middle school students who reported ever using e-cigarettes say they have yet to try a regular cigarette.
"About 90 percent of all smokers begin smoking as teenagers," said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of the CDC Office on Smoking and Health. "We must keep our youth from experimenting or using any tobacco product. These dramatic increases suggest that developing strategies to prevent marketing, sales, and use of e-cigarettes among youth is critical."
The CDC reports e-cigarettes are do contain nictone and additives found in "conventional" cigarettes. The battery-powered smoking devices are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
"Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States, responsible for an estimated 443,000 deaths each year," the CDC said. "And for every one death, there are 20 people living with a smoking-related disease."
Want to quit smoking? Free help is available at 1-800-QUIT NOW or www.cdc.gov/tips.
