While the number of California high school students who smoke has dropped in the past 15 years – 21.6 percent of California high school students reported smoking in 2000, compared with 10.5 percent in 2012 – Yang believes educating individuals about the health risks associated with tobacco use should continue whether or not the bill is signed into law. Almost all teen (and adult) use of these products has been by smokers who use them as an alternative to cigarettes, or to step down to eventual zero nicotine consumption. While these refinements are to be welcomed as a way of mainstreaming the use of e-cigarettes, one controversial motion that has been chaired by the European Union is that an e-cigarette product can be banned if a healthcare professional deems the product unsafe or unhealthy and three countries back the motion. Instead of welcoming the fall in teen smoking, CDC’s director Tom Frieden focused on climbing e-cigarette use and falsely equated it with tobacco. It seems that the nicotine itself is just an addictive substance, not the cause of most ailments linked with smoking. The use of hookahs also climbed from 4.1% to 7.2% among high school students and 1% to 2% among middle school students between 2011 and 2015. Doctors advise people that smoking altogether should be avoided, but if a choice has to be made between two evils, E-cigarettes are healthier. This sustained participation of tobacco funding indicates that efforts to shut down their influence have not been comprehensive enough and is especially pertinent as rates of tobacco use in many sub-Saharan African countries increases.
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on youth and tobacco.
While cigarette smokers in the United States are at an all-time low – 16.8 percent of the population – the use of electronic cigarettes is rising. On top of that, he added, there are no restrictions on buying e-cigarettes on the internet.
“These products are being marketed using the same tactics once use to sell cigarettes to kids, including celebrity endorsements, slick magazine ads, and sponsorship of auto racing and concerts”, he said.
For one, many people including the American Academy of Pediatric strongly support the legislation to raise the minimum age limit to buy cigarettes to 21 years old, which would help decrease the number of deaths accredited to tobacco use. “Fully implementing proven tobacco control strategies could prevent another generation of Americans from suffering from tobacco-related diseases and premature deaths”, she added. This caused hundreds of e-cigarette advocates to protest against the Canadian province’s new legislation.
However, Conley points to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that show conventional smoking is on the decline in teenagers and preteens, and that teenagers who vape tend to do so less frequently than teenagers who smoke.
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The survey comes as industry and health groups are pushing the Food and Drug Administration to finalize its long awaited rule to regulate for the first time all tobacco products, including cigars and e-cigarettes. Council members Brancatelli, Cimperman, Cleveland, Conwell, Cummins, Dow, K. Johnson, Keane, Kelley, Mitchell, Pruitt, Reed and Zone voted in favor of the law.
