A shocking rise in e-cigarette addiction among kids is counterbalancing progress in lessening tobacco reliance through traditional cigarettes. Vaping and e-cigarette use have reportedly captured a big market among young users, specifically as young as those in middle school and high school.
CDC Reports Alarming Numbers
Teen Vogue reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cited a figure of three million e-cigarette and vape implement users, who belong to this demographic. A total of 4.7 million middle and high school respondents to the 2015 National Youth Tobacco Survey by CDC admitted to having used tobacco products within the 30 days before the survey was conducted.
Of these only 1.6 million students were found to be users of traditional cigarettes and similar tobacco products. The data showed that e-cigarette use and vaping are on the rise in this age group with figures such as 1.5% in 2011 to 16% by 2015.
E-Cigarettes & Vapes Could Shoot Numbers Back Up
On the up side, CNN reports that adolescent smoking saw a dip in numbers these recent years. However, the new statistics on e-cigarette and vaping implement use may be creating new concerns.
Debates are currently raging over the real safety and health issues posed by e-cigarettes and vaping. The previous selling point for e-cigarettes and vaping as countermeasures to tobacco addiction is now being more carefully assessed.
Is the solution bringing on another, if not more serious, problem? The flavor and creative packaging that e-cigarettes and vapes make available can be deceptively friendly.
Entertainment Industry Blamed For Popularity
Brian A. King, of the CDC Office on Smoking and Health, credits television, celebrities and attractive accessories as significant factors that reel the youth into e-cigarette use and vaping. At the 2016 Screen Actors Guild awards ceremony, winner Leonardo DiCaprio was photographed and singled out for vaping during the event.
Lung Assoc. calls out @LeoDiCaprio for 'Deeply Troubling' conduct at #SAGawards https://t.co/wI7CkpASpP #Vaping pic.twitter.com/rCz8PLCqi2
— GQ Vape (@GQVape) February 3, 2016
Dr M. Brad Drummond, an associate professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, projects a continued increase in e-cigarette use and vaping among young people. Stronger restrictions on advertising, availability and even flavoring are among the recommendations by Dr M. Brad Drummond to address the meteoric rise in e-cigarette use and vaping, especially among school kids and teens.
