A U.S. “crisis”: sharp rise in teen vaping

Introduction: According to the "Overseas Chinese News" on August 25, a new study in the U.S. shows that the number of middle and high school students who do not smoke but use e-cigarettes exceeded 250,000 in 2013, a threefold increase from 2011.

According to Chinese e-cigarette news: A report from Reuters states that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. reported that this number surged from 79,000 in 2011 to 263,000 in 2013, and that e-cigarette use among teenagers leads to more new smokers. Among teenagers who do not smoke but use e-cigarettes, 44% indicated they plan to smoke traditional cigarettes in the future, while only 21.5% of those who neither smoke nor use e-cigarettes have this intention.
In response, Dr. Tim McAfee, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, expressed great concern about the use of nicotine among teenagers, regardless of whether it comes from traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or other tobacco products. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm the development of the adolescent brain.
Patricia Fran, head of a smoking cessation center in New York, also stated that the study shows the CDC needs to establish stronger regulations to control e-cigarettes. Without the current CDC regulations, the number of teenagers using traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes could be even higher. In recent years, the CDC has strengthened its control over tobacco, especially focusing on the issue of teenage smoking.
Although e-cigarettes contain nicotine and do not include many of the carcinogens found in traditional tobacco cigarettes, the CDC's research shows that nicotine is harmful to adolescent brain development and may have lasting effects on memory and cognitive abilities.
Moreover, nicotine is highly addictive, and the CDC states that about three-quarters of adolescent smokers become adult smokers in the future.
Therefore, Rebecca Bunnell, deputy director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health and the lead author of this study, stated that the increasing use of e-cigarettes among teenagers should raise concerns among parents and public health officials. The widespread presence of tobacco and e-cigarette advertisements on the internet, television, movies, retail stores, and newspapers is a major factor contributing to the rise in teenage smoking, especially the impact of celebrity-endorsed e-cigarette ads on teenagers.
The report shows that nearly 26% of teenagers who have seen three or more tobacco ads intend to smoke, while only 20% of those who have seen one or two similar ads have the intention to smoke, and only 13% of teenagers who have never seen such ads want to smoke.
The American Heart Association (AHA) also calls for e-cigarettes to be subject to the same legal regulations as traditional cigarettes. Nancy Brown, CEO of the AHA, stated that this new study has raised widespread concern in society that e-cigarettes may lead to more teenagers becoming traditional cigarette smokers and normalize unhealthy smoking behavior in society, necessitating stronger regulation, in-depth research, and close monitoring of e-cigarettes.
According to the U.S. Health Bureau, more than 3,200 Americans start smoking every day, nearly one million people die each year due to smoking-related causes, and over 16 million suffer from smoking-related diseases, with direct medical costs reaching up to $132 billion annually.