Study: One in Five UK Teenagers Has Tried E-Cigarettes

[Epoch Times, March 31] (CNA London 31st Reuters) A large-scale report based on British students released today said that one in five teenagers has tried e-cigarettes, fueling the debate over the spread of e-cigarette use.

E-cigarettes are metal devices that heat nicotine-containing liquid into an inhalable vapor. Many experts regard them as a lower-risk alternative to smoking. However, the long-term safety of e-cigarette use and its effects on vulnerable young people remain a subject of concern.

The report, published in the medical journal Public Health by BioMed Central in the UK, said the 2013 study surveyed more than 16,000 teenagers aged 14 to 17 in northwest England. Of them, 19.2% said they had tried or bought e-cigarettes.

As many as 75.8% of respondents said they habitually used e-cigarettes five times a day, although 15.8% of the teenagers had never smoked traditional cigarettes.

Karen Hughes of the Public Health Centre at Liverpool John Moores University, another author of the study, said the findings suggest that the main reason teenagers use e-cigarettes is experimentation, rather than a desire to quit smoking.

The study concluded that authorities urgently need to regulate the marketing and sales of e-cigarettes to children.