This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
E-cigarettes, hookahs rise in popularity among adolescents
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Emerging tobacco products, such as electronic cigarettes and hookahs, are becoming more popular among middle and high school students, according to a CDC press release.
“This report raises a red flag about newer tobacco products. Cigars and hookah tobacco are smoked tobacco — addictive and deadly. We need effective action to protect our kids from addiction to nicotine,” CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, said in the release.
Data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey show the use of e-cigarettes increased among middle school students from 0.6% in 2011 to 1.1% in 2012 and from 1.5% in 2011 to 2.8% in 2012 among high school students. The rate of high school students using hookahs rose from 4.1% in 2011 to 5.4% in 2012.
The survey shows that cigar use also has increased among students. In 2012, 16.7% of high school males smoked cigars, similar to the amount of high school males who use cigarettes (16.3%). The number of non-Hispanic black high school students who use cigars has doubled since 2009 and increased from 11.7% in 2011 to 16.7% in 2012.
The findings suggest that the increase in the use of e-cigarettes and hookahs may be due to an increase in marketing, availability, and the idea that these tobacco products are safer alternatives to cigarettes. According to the CDC, e-cigarettes, hookahs, cigars and other new tobacco products are not currently subject to FDA regulation.
According to the CDC, the FDA intends to issue a rule that would subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act all products that meet the legal definition of a “tobacco product.”
“A large portion of kids who use tobacco are smoking products other than cigarettes, including cigars and hookahs, which are similarly dangerous,” Timothy McAfee, MD, MPH, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said in the release. “As we close in on the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s report on the dangers of smoking, we need to apply the same strategies that work to prevent and reduce cigarette use among our youth and to these new and emerging products.”
Disclosure: Frieden and McAfee report no relevant financial disclosures.