E-cigarette use Increased Among Teens due to Promotional Ads: CDC

While the government has imposed a restriction against TV commercials and some other types of marketing for regular cigarettes, there are no such policies that have been drafted and implemented when it comes to advertisements for e-cigarettes as of yet.

This has lead to an increase in the number of children exposed to e-cigarette ads. And, this could be the reason why the use of e-cigarettes has also surged among young individuals since 2011.

As part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the health officials conducted a study on the exposure of middle school and high school students to electronic cigarette advertising in the United States for the year 2014.

They found out that about 7 in 10 middle and high school students are exposed to e-cigarette ads via in stores, online, in newspapers or magazines, on TV, or at the movies. The CDC conducted the National Youth Tobacco Survey, which is a school-based survey of middle school and high school students in grades 6-12 involving 22,000 students.

The survey showed that 66 percent of middle school students and 71 percent of high school students have seen at least one e-cigarette advertisement in 2014. This translates to about 18.3 million students in the U.S. who viewed promotional materials for e-cigarettes, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"The same advertising tactics the tobacco industry used years ago to get kids addicted to nicotine are now being used to entice a new generation of young people to use e-cigarettes," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a statement.

Some of the advocates who are campaigning against smoking among the youth are pushing for the government to take action immediately. ''It's time for the White House to issue a strong final rule and end this unregulated experiment that threatens our kids,'' Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement, according to a Boston Globe article.

On the other hand, people from the e-cigarette industry are, naturally, unhappy with the stand of CDC on the matter and have criticized the survey.

''The CDC continues to mislead the public about the benefits of vapor products as far less harmful alternatives to smoking,'' Cynthia Cabrera, executive director for the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association, said in a statement.

''The CDC also fails to mention that teens are exposed to many other adult issues on the Internet, TV and movies, such as violence, sex, and alcohol.'' Having said that, Cabrera mentioned that the group is supporting age restrictions when it comes to the sales of e-cigarettes.