E-Cigarette Smoking Trend Among Teens Tripled in One Year

E-cigarette use among the US youth has increased three times in one year, from 4.5 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent in 2014 based on a survey of 22,000 students by The 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey.

"There are now 2.5 million kids using e-cigarettes and 1.5 million using hookah," according to Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Thursday.

"It's important that everyone, parents and kids, understand that nicotine is dangerous for kids at any age, whether it's an e-cigarette, hookah, cigarette, or a cigar. In fact, these trends are particularly worrisome because human brain development is still in progress in these years."

The director finds this trend "alarming", in a conference call with reports according to The New York Times.

"It's important that everyone, parents and kids, understand that nicotine is dangerous for kids at any age, whether it's an e-cigarette, hookah, cigarette or a cigar," Frieden said.  He also added that there was "significant likelihood that a proportion of those who are using e-cigarettes will go on to use combustible cigarettes."

Hookah was another popular product that came second to e-cigarettes said an article by Science World Report.

"Marketing is about sex, flavors, free samples," Frieden added, via U.S. News and World Report. "Although cigarette ads ... haven't been on TV since 1971, kids are now seeing e-cigarettes on TV ... including themes of glamour, rebellion, celebrity, sports, music events, candy and fruit flavors."

Mitch Zeller, director of FDA's Center for Tobacco Products said in a statement via Science World Report that "In today's rapidly evolving tobacco marketplace, the surge in youth use of novel products like e-cigarettes forces us to confront the reality that the progress we have made in reducing youth cigarette smoking rates is being threatened."

"These staggering increases in such a short time underscore why FDA intends to regulate these additional products to protect public health," she added.

But due to the rise of e-cigarette use, actual tobacco smoking dropped to 9.2 percent among teens, making this the first time that the percentage of American teen smoking is in single digits, the NY times reported.

"Putting electronic products in the same basket as cigarettes is not truthful, credible or helpful," according to tobacco expert Jack Henningfield of Pinney Associates, who is referring to the CDC equating actual tobacco smoking with e-cigarette use. CDC's message regarding the tobacco use among teens is "a huge disservice to public health," the news outlet said. E-cigarettes are not nearly as harmful as tobacco cigarettes.