E-cigarette use triples among teenagers, feds say – NorthJersey.com

associated press file photo

The use of e-cigarettes, commonly referred to as “vaping” by teenagers, tripled in 2014, according to a survey by the federal government.

The use of electronic cigarettes by high school and middle school students tripled last year, in an extraordinary gain that outstripped teen use of every other tobacco product for the first time in the history of a national student survey, the federal government said.

More than one in eight high school students — 13.4 percent — said they had used an e-cigarette at least once in the 30 days before the survey, compared with 4.5 percent in 2013, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey. For middle school students, the rate climbed in one year from 1.1 percent, to 3.9 percent.

This finding should “raise alarm bells for parents and educators,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the Center for Tobacco Products of the federal Food and Drug Administration, calling it a public health emergency. The threefold increase is “astounding and concerning,” he said.

While conventional cigarette smoking has declined dramatically among teens during the last four years — falling to 9.2 percent among high school students and 2.5 percent among middle school students, that was more than outweighed by the growth in e-cigarette and hookah usage.

“All the good news is being threatened by the bad news of this dramatic use of electronic cigarettes and hookahs,” Zeller said. Any form of nicotine — whether inhaled as smoke or vapor — is harmful for the developing teenage brain, he said. Nicotine exposure at a young age can promote addiction and lead to lifelong tobacco use, said officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which released the survey.

Public health concerns

Overall, one in four high school students and one in 13 middle school students reported using a tobacco product of any sort at least once within 30 days of the survey.

The popularity of non-traditional smoking products may reverse decades of public health efforts to reduce smoking, experts said.

“This could reintroduce a whole generation to cigarettes that may have not otherwise smoked,” said Dr. Jill Williams, professor of psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and chairwoman of the New Jersey Breathes Coalition. “It could re-normalize smoking. So much public health work over the last 40 years — and this product has the potential to undo that.”

This is the first generation that doesn’t remember “going into restaurants or bars that are filled with smoke,” said state Health Commissioner Mary E. O’Dowd, “and now we are seeing a new and aggressive campaign to market a new nicotine product to these children.”

The threefold increase in use of e-cigarettes, accompanied by a doubling in hookah smoking among high school students, shows how successful that marketing has been, she said.

Part of the appeal to young people is the flavoring of the liquids used to fill the electronic cigarettes.

“When you see products that are advertised like gummy-bear flavor, hot-fudge Sunday flavor, it doesn’t come as a shock that there’s an increase in e-cigarette use among young people,” said Dr. Michael Steinberg, director of the Rutgers Tobacco Dependence Program. “It’s cool and it’s high-tech and it comes in those great flavors.”

Last year, O’Dowd proposed that the Legislature increase the tax on electronic cigarettes and hookahs to equal the tax on regular tobacco products.

Teens are particularly price-sensitive, she said, and the higher price would help protect young people. However, a bill drafted by state Sen. Joe Vitale did not advance.

O’Dowd said she was proud that New Jersey was the first state in the nation to enact a ban on e-cigarettes in public places and work settings, when it amended the Smoke Free Air Act in 2010. Under the law, it is illegal for those under 19 to buy traditional or e-cigarettes — an age limit one year over the federal limit.

Stores that sell e-cigarette materials, including the flavored e-liquids and canisters, say they ask for proof of age before selling to people who look younger than 30. “We wouldn’t sell to our own children, so we don’t sell to anyone else’s,” said one retailer, who didn’t want to be identified.

He pointed to online sales as the main culprit in underage access to the nicotine products. By checking off a box that the buyer is over 18, the federal age limit can be circumvented, he said. A study published last month, funded by the National Cancer Institute, found it was easy for teenagers to buy e-cigarettes online.

Alternative view

The American Vaping Association, which has its headquarters in Hoboken, noted that some of the products used in e-cigarettes do not contain nicotine, because they are used by conventional smokers to stop smoking.

“These products are acting not as a gateway to smoking but a deterrent to it,” said Gregory Conley, a spokesman for the association.

Currently, the FDA does not regulate alternative tobacco products such as e-cigarettes, hookahs and some cigars, so there is no guaranteed standard for their nicotine content, said Steinberg, of Rutgers.

The American Lung Association said it was time for the Obama administration to take urgent action to extend its authority over these products.

“Today’s study highlights the consequences of allowing these products to remain without oversight,” said Harold P. Wimmer, the association’s president and CEO.

The CDC survey found that nearly half of all current tobacco users used two or more types of tobacco products.

Among high school students, the products most commonly used were e-cigarettes (13.4 percent), hookahs (9.4 percent), cigarettes (9.2 percent), cigars (8.2 percent), smokeless tobacco (5.5 percent), snus, a wet smokeless tobacco product (1.9 percent), and pipes (1.5 percent).

Among middle school students, the products were e-cigarettes (3.9 percent), hookahs (2.5 percent), cigarettes (2.5 percent), cigars (1.9 percent), smokeless tobacco (1.6 percent), and pipes (0.6 percent).

“It is critical that comprehensive tobacco control and prevention strategies for youths should address all tobacco products and not just cigarettes,” the authors of the report said.

Email: washburn@northjersey.com