Ever Electronic Cigarette Use ~ National Use Tobacco Survey, 2011-2012
Grim news out today. E-cigarette use in teens has doubled in a year. The CDC reports that 1 in 10 high school students admitted to ever using an e-cigarette in 2012. The rate of use doubled for middle school students as well. Although I’m not surprised, I remember just weeks ago tweeting about my dismay with Jenny McCarthy’s new job– advertising e-cigarettes. I took flak. Some advocates for e-cigs felt I was shortsighted and not valuing the potential benefits of these electronic nicotine-laden vapor tubes. All I could think of was her image, the lure she may create for teens, and the likelihood that teens would peek in on e-cigs with greater fervor.
Just a month ago we learned that smokeless tobacco use is steady with teens (5%) and many teens are now turning to novel sources of nicotine (dissolvable tobacco, snuff, snus) in addition to tobacco cigarettes. I consider myself fairly up to date, and until the AAP report came out in August I’d never once heard of snus. You?
Some people are wed to the concept that e-cigs may reduce the burden of illness and smoking-related morbidity from tobacco cigarettes. Even if you believe in harm-reduction for adults (switching from tobacco cigarettes to e-cigs to reduce use or quit) this is an entirely different issue for our middle and high-school students. A nice summary of the data for e-cigs from pediatrician, Dr Aaron E Carroll, with numerous associated comments helps frame the issue.
I wish I could remain agnostic about these devices, but I can’t. This is pretty easy to say:
I don’t recommend e-cigarettes for a teen.
Compare two stats: One in five adults who smoke has used an e-cig with one in ten of ALL high school students have tried an e-cig. Teens aren’t wired to conceptualize the power of nicotine addiction.
The e-cig really does feel like the gateway to the gateway drug.
There is still a lot of unknowns about e-cigarettes. More research will come out and the FDA is likely to regulate e-cig use shortly.
In the meantime, check in with your teens, look around, and I urge your to support regulation of e-cigs and advertising of e-cigs to teens. This just can’t be good.
Christine Vara says
I have two high school students and last year we moved from a fairly urban area where the teachers and school administrators strictly enforced the rules, to a more rural area where the teachers aren’t as likely to challenge students. Once of the most notable things my kids noticed in their new school was not only the obsessive use of cell phones during class, but the surprising prevalence of e-cigs. I was shocked to hear some kids where even observed using them during class! Apparently the vapor is not very evident, but still, I have a hard time believing that a teacher wouldn’t notice. So yes, I’m very concerned. Add to this the fact that there have been several new local businesses popping up in our town who sell and promote e-cigs. So which came first. The supply or the demand? I may never know, but I certainly think e-cigs are only really beneficial if they are helping to wean frequent smokers from their nicotine addiction.
J. Buck says
Thanks for the post, SMD. I am stunned by the lack of regulation on this product. This is remarkable.
Richard Saint Cyr MD says
This is indeed concerning news. I’ve been one of those “sdvocates for e-cigs” who previously had emailed you to have an open mind. Especially here in China, if only a few % of long term smokers switched to e-cigs, tens of thousands of lives can be saved. BUT NOW, gosh. What if e-cigs actually create more new smokers than help stop chronic smokers, as a gateway? These new ads especially are disturbing, trying to make them hip and rebellious. It does seem that some FDA regulation is in order.
Sarah Kaufman says
Smokeless cigarette have become great alternative for all those who want to get rid of harmful tobacco and tar and also for those who are striving hard to save their relationship because of this trivial problem. These cigarettes actually help you satisfy our craving of tobacco without even actually taking in tobacco.
GM says
While e-cigarettes might help severely addicted adults, they are not for teenagers. Would we allow our teens to dabble in Nicolette gum-chewing or wear a nicotine patch for fun? I hope not! Addictions permanently alter brain chemistry and our teens are much more susceptible to beginning an addiction than other groups of people. I vote no e-cigs for under age individuals!
costo.ro says
Do you really think that teenagers only use them for fun? They use them to quit smoking, just like any other one of us. The real concern here is how they got addicted to nicotine in the first place, not the fact that they’re trying to quit regular smoking!
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
I think teens are vulnerable in ways adults are not. And yes, I think teens are experimenting and having fun. Just as they would with tobacco cigarettes.
Laura Offutt MD says
I think this is a critical topic for teens to be aware of. The potential for nicotine addiction that in facts leads to tobacco use later in life is concerning. I am trying to spread the word to teens as well about e-cigs and how they might affect them via an online teen health content community called Real Talk with Dr. Offutt.
The post on e-cigs is here: . https://drlauraoffutt.blogspot.com/2013/12/vaping-and-technofoggers.html . Real Talk with Dr. Offutt is also on Twitter, Pheed and Tumblr.
Hasse Karlgreen says
E-cigarettes are less harmful than the regular cigarette because they are using the nicotine in less quantity and that’s also in liquid form.
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
We certainly HOPE e-cigs are less harmful but — and especially in teens — we don’t know if that’s the case. The concern for the rapid rise in use of e-cigs in teens is very concerning. Getting addicted early is NO GOOD.
4.7M teens are using tobacco (cigs, hookas, cigars, smokeless tobacco AND e-cigs) — report released this week by The CDC here in the US:https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6514a1.htm?s_cid=mm6514a1_w