E-cigarette use has
doubled among middle- and high-school kids — and experts fear the devices are
creating a new generation of smokers rather than helping people kick the habit.
With flavors like
chocolate and “cherry crush” and endorsements from such celebs as Jenny
McCarthy and Courtney Love, electronic cigarettes are rising in popularity
among young people.
“The increased use
of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling,” said Tom Frieden, director of
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Many teens who
start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong
addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes.”
Ten percent of US
high-schoolers admitted having tried e-cigs last year, up from 4.7 percent in
2011, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Youth Tobacco
Survey.
The number of
middle-school students who tried them also doubled, rising from 1.4 percent in
2011 to 2.7 percent last year.
And last year, 2.8
percent of high-schoolers said they had used them within the past 30 days, up
from 1.5 percent in 2011. For middle- schoolers, the number rose from 0.6 to
1.1 percent.
“These results are
alarming, but not surprising,” Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids, said, noting that the battery-powered devices, which deliver
nicotine in a vapor, have been touted as a safer alternative to traditional
smoking.
“The e-cigarette
industry portrays itself as wanting to help solve the tobacco problem, but its
marketing is reminiscent of the tobacco industry in its worst days.”
Not since the days
when Joe Camel shilled cancer sticks for Big Tobacco have health officials been
so concerned about young people getting hooked on smoking.
But with Leonardo
DiCaprio and Charlie Sheen seen puffing the cigs in photos across the Web, who
needs a cartoon mascot?
“When it comes to
smoking, smelling like an ashtray is not the ideal aphrodisiac,” McCarthy says
in a Web video for blu eCigs.
Article Credit: www.nypost.com
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