Between the 2014 and 2015, the number of youngsters that use e-cigarettes increased from 2.46 million to 3 million. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been looking up for good and bad news on the tobacco use since adolescents from middle and high school had been smoking fewer cigarettes and cigars in recent years.
Findings from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey show that 1 in 4 high school students use tobacco with nearly half of these students using more than one tobacco product, which is particularly concerning. Specifically, the researchers note that 5.3 percent of middle school students and 16 percent of high school students reported using e-cigarettes in 2015.
High school students who use tobacco have increased from 4.5 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent in 2014, rising from approximately 660,000 to 2 million students. Among middle school students, current e-cigarette usage tripled from 1.1 percent in 2013 to 3.9 percent in 2014—an increase from approximately 120,000 to 450,000 students.
Also the hookah use increased from 4.1 per cent to 7.2 per cent among high school students and 1 percent to 2 percent among middle school students between 2011 and 2015, where it shows that high-scholars who currently use hookah raised from 5.2 percent in 2013 (about 770,000 students) to 9.4 percent in 2014 (about 1.3 million students) and with middle school students the use of hookah increased from 1.1 percent in 2013 (120,000 students) to 2.5 percent in 2014 (280,000 students).
Less smoking on the teenagers
Mitch Zeller, J.D., director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products stated that “ 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”. He also added that these staggering increases in such a short time underscore why the FDA intends to regulate these additional products to protect public health.
There is also a way to achieve the goal to reduce the number of teenagers who use tobacco products or vape through the regulation of the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products.
These strategies could be including the funding of tobacco control programs at CDC-recommended levels, also increasing the prices of tobacco products and implementing and enforcing comprehensive smoke-free laws, and sustaining hard-hitting media campaigns, there are still too many ways to fight this.
Because the use of e-cigarettes and hookahs is increasing among high and middle school students, it is completely understandable that there are critical comprehensive tobacco controls and prevention strategies for youth focus on all tobacco products, and not just for cigarettes smoking.
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention