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Fitzgerald Health Education Associates, Inc., April 2015 fhea.com
THE USE OF E-CIGARETTES
among middle- and high-
school students tripled from
2013 to 2014, bringing the
share of high school students who
use e-cigarettes to 13%—more than the number
who smoke traditional cigarettes, according to the
National Youth Tobacco Survey data that was gath-
ered for the US Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention (CDC) and the FDA's Center for Tobacco
Products. The report was published in the April 17,
2015, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
E-cigarettes turn liquid nicotine into a vapor that
is inhaled, or "vaped." Selling e-cigarettes to minors
is illegal in many states but the equipment is avail-
able for sale online and easily purchased by minors.
E-cigarettes deliver nicotine but no tar is produced
because the tobacco does not burn. It was thought
that no toxic chemicals were released from e-ciga-
rette vapors, which has led many people to use
e-cigarettes in the belief they are safer and/or will
help them quit smoking cigarettes or marijuana.
How ever, in January 2015 a letter was published
in the New England Journal of Medicine from re-
searchers who found that e-cigarettes operated at
higher voltages produce vapor with large amounts
of formaldehyde-containing chemical compounds—
up to 15 times higher than traditional cigarettes.
When operated at low voltage, e-cigarettes did not
create any formaldehyde-releasing agents. The
issue remains to be studied further.
The new data show that current e-cigarette use
among high school students increased from 4.5%
in 2013 to 13.4% in 2014, rising from approximately
660,000 to 2 million students. Current e-cigarette
use among middle school students more than
tripled from 1.1% in 2013 to 3.9% in 2014, an in-
crease from approximately 120,000 to 450,000 stu-
dents. E-cigarettes were the most-used tobacco
product for non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics, and
Non-Hispanic teens of other races, while cigars were
the most commonly used product among non-
Hispanic blacks.
It is the first time since the federal survey began
collecting data on e-cigarettes in 2011 that current
e-cigarette use surpassed current use of every other
tobacco product overall, including conventional
cigarettes.
In a recent editorial, the New York Times noted,
"Major tobacco companies are selling e-cigarettes
with the same tactics used to promote conventional
cigarettes in the past, such as targeting teenagers
with special promotions and flavoring their prod-
ucts." The editorial went on to say that reporters
interviewing students for a recent report on e-
cigarettes found that while some students use
e-cigarettes to quit smoking cigarettes or marijuana,
Update: Tobacco Use Among Teens
E-Cigarette and Hookah Use Rises
Among Teens
Current e-cigarette use among high school
students increased from
4.5% in 2013 to
13.4% in 2014, rising from approximately
660,000 to
2 million students.
Continued on page 17