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Tag: E-Cigarette

  • E-Cigarette, Hookah Use Growing Among Teens

    The U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released a report showing that the popularity of so-called “emerging tobacco products” is rising among middle and high school students. The CDC considers emerging tobacco products to include hookahs, little cigars, and e-cigarettes (though they are not technically tobacco products).

    The report shows that 5.4% of high schoolers used a hookah during 2012, an increase from the 4.1% who admitted to using a hookah in 2011. 2.8% of high schoolers said they used an e-cigarette in 2012, upfrom just 1.5% in 2011. Middle school students are also being affected, with 1.1% saying they used an e-cigarette in 2012, nearly double the 0.6% who said the same in 2011.

    The CDC issued concerns about rising teen use of tobacco products, though it did not specifically address the rise in e-cigarette use. E-cigarettes use a nicotine solution that is heated and then inhaled as a vapor, rather than burned tobacco.

    “This report raises a red flag about newer tobacco products,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC. “Cigars and hookah tobacco are smoked tobacco – addictive and deadly. We need effective action to protect our kids from addiction to nicotine.”

    The CDC believes the rise in emerging tobacco product use among teens could be related to a recent increase in marketing for those products, which is not currently regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It also stated that increased use of e-cigarettes could be due to the perception of the products as safe alternatives to traditional cigarettes.

    The CDC is recommending that emerging tobacco products be regulated in the same ways more traditional tobacco products currently are.

    “A large portion of kids who use tobacco are smoking products other than cigarettes, including cigars and hookahs, which are similarly dangerous,” said Dr. Tim McAfee, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the CDC. “As we close in on the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s report on the dangers of smoking, we need to apply the same strategies that work to prevent and reduce cigarette use among our youth to these new and emerging products.”

  • E-Cigarette Use Rising Among Teens, Says CDC

    As the e-cigarette industry begins to mature from an unregulated, entrepreneurial enterprise to big business, governments around the world are now beginning to pay attention. The U.K. just this summer announced that the devices will soon be regulated as a medicine alongside products such as nicotine gum and nicotine patches. Today the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data showing that e-cigarette use among teens more than doubled last year.

    The CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey shows that the percentage of high school students who have ever used an e-cigarette rose to 10% in 2012, up from just 4.7% in 2011. Though the percentage is much lower, e-cigarette use also rose among middle school students. The CDC is concerned that young people who begin using e-cigarettes could become addicted to nicotine, which could lead them to using tobacco products such as cigarettes.

    Over 76% of high schoolers who admit using e-cigarettes within the past month say they have also used tobacco cigarettes during that time. Also, 80% of middle schoolers who have tried e-cigarettes also admit to having tried tobacco cigarettes.

    “The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC. “Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes.”

    E-cigarettes are devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution, turning it into a water vapor for inhalation. The idea is that such devices can deliver the nicotine smokers crave without the use of tobacco. Though e-cigarette users have claimed many positive effects from switching to the e-cigarettes from real cigarettes, little research has been done on the long-term effects of the new devices. Many of the nicotine solutions sold online include a wide variety of flavors, and the e-cigarette industry as a whole is largely unregulated around the world.

    “These data show a dramatic rise in usage of e-cigarettes by youth, and this is cause for great concern as we don’t yet understand the long-term effects of these novel tobacco products,” said Mitch Zeller, director the Center for Tobacco Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “These findings reinforce why the FDA intends to expand its authority over all tobacco products and establish a comprehensive and appropriate regulatory framework to reduce disease and death from tobacco use.”

    (Image courtesy Michael Dorausch via Wikimedia Commons)

  • E-Cigarettes to Get New Regulations in the U.K.

    The U.K.‘s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) this week clarified that nicotine-containing products (NCPs) such as electronic cigarettes will soon be regulated as medicines. The agency states that the move will help to make the products safer and “more effective.”

    E-cigarettes are personal vaporizers that take a liquid solution that contains nicotine and heat it into a vapor to simulate smoking. The process allows smokers to ingest nicotine through their lungs via water vapor, rather than through tobacco smoke. The devices are, compared to cigarettes, very new, and few studies have been published on possible side effects of their use. As such, the burgeoning e-cigarette industry is currently unregulated in much of the world. The MHRAs announcement means the devices will join other NCPs, such as nicotine gum, patches, and mouth sprays.

    The MHRA said in a statement that it believes making e-cigarettes “safe and effective” could help smokers cut down or quit real tobacco, potentially saving some of the estimated 80,000 smokers who die in England each year.

    “Reducing the harms of smoking to smokers and those around them is a key Government health priority,” said Jeremy Mean, MHRA group manager of Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines. “Our research has shown that existing electronic cigarettes and other nicotine containing products on the market are not good enough to meet this public health priority.

    “Some NCPs are already licensed and the Government’s decision to work towards medicines licensing for all these products is designed to deliver quality products that will support smokers to cut down and to quit.

    “The decision announced today provides a framework that will enable good quality products to be widely available. It’s not about banning products that some people find useful, it’s about making sure that smokers have an effective alternative that they can rely on to meet their needs.”

    The MHRA made its decision following a public consultation on e-cigarette regulation, which it says revealed “widespread support for medicines regulation from the public health community.” The U.K. government expects the European Commission to adopt new legislation on NCPs in 2014, and for the requirement for medicine licenses to begin in 2016. The MHRA is encouraging current e-cigarette manufacturers to apply for a medicine license.

    The agency emphasized that a major part of its decision came down to ensuring that e-cigarette quality and reliability. The possible marketing of the devices to children was also a concern, as there is currently no ban on doing so.

    “Smokers are harmed by the deadly tar and toxins in tobacco smoke, not the nicotine,” said Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England. “While it’s best to quit completely, I realise that not every smoker can and it is much better to get nicotine from safer sources such as nicotine replacement therapy.

    “More and more people are using e-cigarettes, so it’s only right these products are properly regulated to be safe and work effectively.”

  • Big Tobacco To Join E-Cigarette Revolution

    If the giants of a particular industry adopts a new and up-and-coming item, does that bring legitimacy to the product? In the case of e-cigarettes, we’re about to find out. According to reports, companies that are immediately associated with Big Tobacco–Philip Morris USA (Marlboro) and Reynolds American (Camels)–are throwing their collective hat into the growing industry of electronic cigarettes, a move that is surprising simply because of how long it took these companies to offer these vapor-driven replacements for standard tobacco cigarettes.

    When you consider the fact that e-cigarettes have officially crossed over to the mainstream, thanks in large part to the commercials created by Blu, one of the leading e-cigarette companies on the market. The one featuring actor Stephen Dorff is currently in rotation, depending on what channels you watch:


    As these devices gain in popularity–look, even NBA players use them–it stands to reason the companies that profit the most from traditional cigarettes would enjoy a different, perhaps less controversial revenue stream. As indicated, the two giants of the tobacco industry are preparing to launch their own version of electronic cigarettes; the “MarkTen” for the makers of Marlboro and the “VUSE” from the makers of Camel. The VUSE e-cigarette will be introduced in Colorado on July, 2013, and the MarkTen will be introduced in the state of Indiana in August. If these limited introductions succeed, expect them to be released on a national, and perhaps international scale shortly thereafter.

    With that in mind, if you are a smoker, does the introduction of “mainstream” e-cigarettes impact your decision to try and/or switch to that style of smokeless nicotine consumption?

    Lead image courtesy.