E-cigarettes Use Triples Among Teenagers
In a national survey conducted by the federal government, it has been observed that the use of e-cigarettes has tripled among middle and high school students.
The popularity of e-cigarettes has now even exceeded that of traditional cigarettes which has fallen to its lowest level in years.
Dr. Jill Williams, professor of psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and chairwoman of the New Jersey Breathes Coalition said, "This could reintroduce a whole generation to cigarettes that may have not otherwise smoked. It could re-normalize smoking. So much public health work over the last 40 years - and this product has the potential to undo that."
Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has espoused similar views with regard to the spike in e-cigarette use and called the development shocking.
He said, "It's a really bad thing, and it is subjecting another generation of our children to an addictive substance." Frieden's fears are understandable when you consider many e-cigarette users will eventually go onto use traditional cigarettes.
Overall, 1 in four students in high school were found to be using some sort of tobacco product at least once 30 days prior to the survey. 1 out of 13 middle school students tried the tobacco products atleast once during this period.
Dr. Michael Steinberg, director of the Rutgers Tobacco Dependence Program said, "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. It's cool and it's high-tech and it comes in those great flavors."
