A new national survey confirmed indications e-cigarettes are now more popular among teenage students than traditional cigarettes and other forms of tobacco.
The study was conducted by the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Youth Tobacco survey. Findings included the use of e-cigarettes has increased from 1.1 percent in 2013 to 3.9 percent in 2014 among middle school Children. The survey found the use among high school students almost tripled, from 4.5 percent to 13.4 percent. The numbers equivocate to 450,000 middle school users and 2 million high school students.
Health Talk checked in with Dorothy Hatsukami Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and the Forster Family Chair in Cancer Prevention, regarding e-cigarettes and the effects of nicotine on young people.
“Nicotine alters the structures in the brain. The adolescent brain, which is still developing, is particularly susceptible to the effects of these alterations,” said Hatsukami. “For example, the earlier the brain is exposed to nicotine, the greater the chance that this individual will experience difficulty quitting tobacco in the future.”
Although many assume e-cigarettes are safer and better for you than regular cigarettes, they are not safe and users should still be wary.
“Although e-cigarettes have significantly less toxic chemicals than regular cigarettes, currently, there is no oversight of e-cigarettes. As a result, consumers may be exposed to unnecessary and unknown toxic chemicals,” said Hatsukami. “The FDA is currently seeking deeming over e-cigarettes. This rule would allow the agency to require disclosure of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals in e-cigarettes, prohibit sale of cigarettes to minors, prevent any claims of reduced health risk that has no scientific basis, add a warning label on the product and implement product standards.”
E-cigarettes could be contributing to a much larger problem. Most often, e-cigarettes are used in conjunction with cigarette smoking.
“Most people who use e-cigarettes, even among youth, are current smokers. This dual use of products perpetuates exposures to harmful chemicals from continued smoking of regular cigarettes,” said Hatsukami.
Similarly to e-cigarettes, hookah has generated many young users without consideration of its dangers.
“There is a misperception that hookah smoking is safe,” said Hatsukami. “But hookah smoking leads to exposure of high levels of nicotine, carbon monoxide and harmful chemicals. The exposure to some of these chemicals can be greater than from cigarette smoking.”
The post Use Of E-Cigarettes Triples Among U.S. Teens appeared first on Health Talk.