A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that makers of “little cigars” have designed their products to draw kids into smoking. One of out 12 high school seniors is now smoking “little cigars.”
Despite the United States’ overall positive advancement against smoking, CDC director Tom Frieden still expressed his worries in an interview with USA Today, “I really worry about our kids. If the next generation gets hooked, you're talking about a lifetime struggle with addiction.”
According to statistics, roughly 16 percent of high school students smoke, plus 19 percent of adults. The introduction of little cigars threatens to destabilize the good progress.
The report said one in 12 high school seniors use and smoke “little cigars,” and this can be due to a number of things. Mainly, it falls through loopholes in federal regulations making producers attract young ones. Another thing is it falls in the lower tax category, making it cheaper than conventional cigarettes. It roughly cost seven cents each or $5 -$11 per pack. It can also be bought for as few as one or two sticks at a time, making little cigars more affordable to these gullible kids.
Additionally, about seven percent of grades 6 to 12 students have tried an e-cigarette in 2012 – more than twice the figure in 2011.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already prohibited the selling of flavored tobacco cigarettes but little cigars and e-cigarettes which come in “Gummi Bears” and “Fruit Loops” flavors are not. The federal agency has said that it intends to regulate e-cigarettes as it does regular cigarettes, but it has not yet released new rules.
Ray Story, founder and CEO of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association told USA Today, “There is no bigger killer than conventional tobacco,” and claimed, “This particular product is clearly less harmful.”
Nonetheless, Frieden still worries that more kids could become addicted nicotine because e-cigarettes.
