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Will your children buy candy, gum or little cigars?

By Dr. Tom Frieden, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Dr. Tom Frieden is director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(CNN) — They’re on display at cash registers all across America: Candy bars, packs of gum — and little cigars.
In some cases, those cigars aren’t tucked away behind the counter where only the attendant can get to them but right in front for anyone to pick up.
Traditional fat cigars are a small part of today’s cigar industry. Newer types of cancer sticks include cigarette-sized cigars, or little cigars, designed to look like a typical cigarette but which evade cigarette taxes and regulations.
Flavored little cigars can be sold virtually anywhere, and kids are a prime target of these new products.
Unlike cigarettes, many are sold singly or in small, low-priced packs, at a fraction of the cost of a cigarette in most states.
These little cigars have names like “Da Bomb Blueberry” and “Swagberry.” The flavors themselves — chocolate mint, watermelon, wild cherry and more — can mask the harsh taste of tobacco and are clearly attractive to children.
The Food and Drug Administration banned candy and fruit flavors in cigarettes so young people would not be enticed. But cigars weren’t covered.
The tobacco industry claims that its marketing efforts are solely aimed at adults. It has long argued that its marketing doesn’t increase demand or cause young people to smoke but instead is intended to increase brand appeal and market share among existing adult smokers.
How many grown-ups do you know who smoke grape-flavored cigars?
Little cigars have become more popular in recent years. Flavored brands have almost 80% of the market share.
In 2011, among middle school and high school students who currently smoke cigars, more than one in three reported using flavored little cigars.
Six states — Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Wisconsin — have youth cigar smoking rates the same as or higher than those of youth cigarette smoking.
Despite industry statements to the contrary, the link between marketing and youth tobacco use is clear.
Some legislative and regulatory actions that tackle elements of tax discrepancies, youth appeal and marketing are in place or under consideration.
New York and Providence, Rhode Island, have enacted city-wide ordinances prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, including flavored little cigars. Both ordinances have been challenged and upheld in U.S. District Court.
In April, the Tobacco Tax and Enforcement Reform Act was introduced in the Senate. This bill aims to eliminate tax disparities between different tobacco products, reduce illegal tobacco trade and increase the federal excise tax on tobacco products.
Based on decades of evidence, the 2012 surgeon general’s reporton tobacco use among youth and young adults concluded that tobacco industry marketing causes youths to smoke, and nicotine addiction keeps them smoking.
This sobering fact holds true in spite of bans on advertising and promotions that target children and youths, and restrictions on certain other marketing activities.
Nearly 90% of smokers started before they were 18 years old, and almost no one starts smoking after age 25.
To prevent the needless death, disability and illness caused by smoking, we must stop young people from even starting to smoke.
A key part of prevention efforts must be action that will eliminate loopholes in restrictions on tobacco marketing, pricing and products that encourage children and youth to smoke.
I don’t think it’s too much to expect of our society that we protect our kids so they can reach adulthood without an addiction that can harm or kill them.
– – – –
The opinions expressed are solely those of Dr. Tom Frieden.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/11/health/frieden-little-cigars/

E-cig boom leads to taxation, regulation questions

WOODBURY, Minn. (AP) — Stores that sell increasingly popular e-cigarettes are popping up around the Twin Cities, highlighting the lack of regulation or taxation of the tobacco alternative.
E-cigarettes are battery powered and produce a nicotine vapor. Owners of stores that sell the devices told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that demand skyrocketed in July when a state tax increase sent cigarette prices up to about $7.50 a pack.
“Sales were insane,” said Angie Griffith, who owns several Smokeless Smoking stores and kiosks.
The surging sales have left regulators scrambling to react. The federal Food and Drug Administration is expected to release regulations on e-cigarettes soon, but for now there are very few state or federal rules applying to the devices.
That’s raised concern that some varieties could serve as an introduction to nicotine for youths. Some come in flavors including root beer, and cookies and cream.
But some former traditional smokers said e-cigarettes helped them kick a tobacco habit. A new Smokeless Smoking store in Woodbury, which opened Nov. 18, has already become a social hub for e-puffers, with its dimly lit lounge with sofas, TVs, games and books.
Griffith said the ability to form friendships and impromptu support groups with fellow e-cigarette smokers is important in helping customers kick tobacco.
“Smoking” an e-cigarette involves pushing a button on the small metal cylinder, examining its tiny computer screen, applying drops of flavoring and keeping an eye on the battery, then inhaling and exhaling the vapor. The vaporized liquids come in standard varieties but can be custom-made. Flavors mimic brands of cigarettes including Marlboro and Camel.
Gus Menth, a White Bear Lake truck driver, smoked cigarettes for 15 years. He tried to quit with nicotine patches but got so frustrated he once popped one in his mouth and chewed it. He can still remember the exact date he successfully switched to e-cigs: Jan. 15, 2011.
“I was tired of smelling bad,” Menth said. “And the cost savings is incredible.”
The metal e-cigarette costs from $30 to about $200, but is reusable. Menth and his wife, who also smokes e-cigs, estimate they are saving about $170 a month since their switch.
Menth said his breathing has improved. “I can run and play with my kid now,” he said.
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/11/30/health/ecigarettes-twin-cities

New E-cigarette shop opens in downtown Fargo

Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) – A new store opening to customers Friday on Broadway in Fargo hopes to tap into the growing business of electronic cigarettes.
E-cigarette sales hit the $500 million mark in 2012, and with that number expected to triple, Infinite Vapor hopes to get a piece of that $1.7 billion pie.
Kelsey Eaton- Manager, Infinite Vapor: “E-Cigarettes are a different way; an alternative to quitting smoking.
Cody Fruehling- First Infinite Vapor Customer: “Yeah, I’m addicted to the nicotine, but I’m also addicted to the feeling of smoking and that’s what the vapor offers.”
The E-cigarettes use flavored nicotine liquid to produce vapor that is then inhaled; therefore, no tobacco or tar is present.
Eaton: “A, they taste good, and B, they don’t smell, so you’re not smelly and it’s not all over your stuff and your hands don’t reek.”
With liquid flavors like banana and yummy gummy, public officials are concerned that E-cigarettes are catering to a younger crowd.
Robyn Litke Sall- Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, Fargo Public Health: “Sounds to me more like frozen yogurt flavor than it does E-cigarette flavor, so I really would strongly caution parents that this could be very attractive to their youth.”
With zero FDA regulation, E-cigarettes are allowed to be sold to minors, but Infinite Vapor manager Kelsey Eaton says they are taking the moral high ground.
Eaton: “We treat it just the same as any tobacco or nicotine product as in we take IDs. We don’t sell to anyone under 18.”
And just like traditional tobacco, E-cigarettes are banned in public places in North Dakota, while Minnesota still allows them.
The FDA is expected to place regulations on E-cigarettes in the near future.
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/90738/

E-cigarette store to open in downtown Fargo

By: Dave Olson, INFORUM
FARGO – A chain of stores that began selling electronic cigarettes in the Twin Cities this past April is setting up a shop in downtown Fargo.
Bill Boldenow said he plans to open his Infinite Vapor store at 68 Broadway by Friday, but if that doesn’t happen, it’ll open “at the very latest the second week of December.”
Boldenow said the store will sell e-cigarettes and the e-juice that goes into them. E-cigarettes are pen-like devices that use a small battery and heating element to vaporize the e-juice, mimicking a cigarette.
While proponents such as Boldenow say e-cigarettes are safer than smoking, but some anti-smoking advocates are concerned the increasingly popular product isn’t regulated and has not been extensively tested.
Safe alternative?
E-juice typically contains nicotine along with some type of flavoring. When vaporized, e-juice is inhaled similar to the way smoke from a cigarette is inhaled, but without the carcinogens found in tobacco.
“We feel it’s a much safer alternative than tobacco, which we know is unsafe,” Boldenow said, adding that the e-juice Infinity Vapor sells is made in Minnesota and tested for consistency at a lab at St. Cloud State University.
“Infinity Vapor is a premium electronic cigarette shop that carries really high-quality products,” Boldenow said.
“A lot of the stuff you see out there these days – in gas stations and whatnot – are kind of a knockoff version,” he added.
Boldenow said e-juice nicotine levels can be adjusted to personal tastes, and he said many people who use e-cigarettes do so as a way to quit smoking.
“I want to promote people getting off of smoking,” he said. “I truly in my heart believe it is (a way to do that).”
Heather Nelson, part owner of the SnG Vapor store in Grand Forks, said more than a few of her customers kicked their smoking habit by turning to e-cigarettes.
“I’ve got a lot of people that (say), ‘I was smoking two packs a day for 30-plus years’ and in just a couple months they’ve gotten to a point where they are nicotine-free,” said Nelson, whose business has been operating in Grand Forks for about three years.
Nelson said the shop makes its own e-juice using a combination of four ingredients – nicotine; vegetable gelatin; coffee/tea flavorings; and pharmaceutical-grade propylene glycol.
Though propylene glycol is a chemical found in antifreeze, Nelson said it is a safe ingredient.
Regulation-free
But because e-juice is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it is difficult to say just how safe or unsafe a particular batch may be, said Robyn Litke Sall, a tobacco prevention coordinator at Fargo Cass Public Health.
“We don’t yet know what all is contained in e-cigarettes. We don’t know if the vapor is harmful or not,” Sall said, adding that because of the lack of information, many health officials are concerned about statistics that indicate use of e-cigarettes among young people has doubled in recent years. In 2011, the market for e-cigs was $2 billion worldwide, according to an estimate by an industry group.
Because e-cigarettes look much like regular smokes, some wonder if they could be a gateway to smoking, said Sall, who added that scientific evidence is lacking when it comes to claims e-cigarettes help people stop smoking.
“Until there might be such evidence, we certainly can’t endorse it, or use it as a cessation device,” Sall said.
Both Boldenow and Nelson said they will not sell products to people under 18, assertions that don’t quell Sell’s concerns. She said a store may have a policy against selling to people under 18, but there is no law that prevents a business from doing so.
If a business decides to change their policy due to factors like competition, “there’s no penalty there,” Sall said.
Competitive advantage
E-cigarettes were included in North Dakota’s recently passed ban on indoor smoking in public places, meaning anyplace that is smoke-free by law must also be vapor-free.
Minnesota’s state law banning smoking in workplaces, bars and restaurants does not include e-cigarettes, but some communities in the state have their own ordinances regulating such products.
Moorhead is a city with no e-cigarette regulations, and that might give businesses an edge over their competition on the North Dakota side of the Red River, said Jake Bruns, owner of Mick’s Office, a downtown Moorhead bar.
Bruns said few of his customers use e-cigarettes, which are already widely available at convenience stores in the area. But he said that might change with a store opening that is devoted to the devices.
“There could be some marketing opportunities there,” he said.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/419678/group/homepage/

Regulation push catching up with electronic cigarettes

By John Keilman and Mitch Smith, Chicago Tribune reporters
Jay Altman smoked cigarettes for 25 years before deciding a few months ago that for the sake of his wallet and his health, a change was in order.
But Altman didn’t quit — he switched.
The North Side insurance worker swapped his daily pack and a half of smokes for the vanilla-flavored nicotine aerosol of an electronic cigarette. He feels better these days, he said, and not just because he’s saving more than $100 a week.
“My friends have noticed a difference,” Altman said while sampling assorted flavors at Smoque Vapours, an e-cigarette shop in the Loop. “They’ll say, ‘You smell good,’ instead of, ‘You stink.'”
The fast-growing e-cigarette industry has hitched its future to such testimonials, pitching its product as a safer and cheaper alternative to tobacco cigarettes. So far the business has escaped the reach of regulators, but from Washington, D.C., to the Chicago suburbs, that is changing quickly.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration appears poised to label e-cigarettes a “tobacco product,” a distinction that would give the agency power over their marketing, manufacture and sale. North suburban Mundelein just passed an ordinance banning the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone younger than 18, and on Jan. 1 a similar law will take effect statewide.
Evanston, meanwhile, has gone even further, banning the use of e-cigarettes anywhere smoking is prohibited.
“There hasn’t been a whole lot of long-term research on this, but we really wanted to make sure we were on the front end to protect our residents,” said Carl Caneva, assistant director of Evanston’s health department.
The lack of regulation has turned e-cigarettes into a commercial Wild West, where basement chemists and giant corporations alike concoct mixtures that taste like everything from peach schnapps to Mountain Dew. The novel flavors concern anti-smoking advocates, who note that teen e-cigarette use recently doubled within a single year.
“I don’t think that there’s any question that flavors appeal to young people,” said Danny McGoldrick of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “It’s just another way to help introduce them to the habit.”
Researchers aren’t sure of all the chemicals released by the products, but some say there’s ample reason for worry.
The American Lung Association, which favors strict regulation, cites a recent study that found chemicals such as formaldehyde and acetone in exhaled e-cigarette vapor.
“We’re very concerned because we don’t know what’s in e-cigarettes or what the health consequences of them might be,” said Erika Sward, the lung association’s assistant vice president for national advocacy. “Frankly, until the FDA begins its oversight of these products, I think everyone needs to proceed very cautiously.”
E-cigarettes use tiny atomizers to turn nicotine-infused liquids into an aerosol, which is inhaled by the user. They’ve been sold in the United States since the mid-2000s, but the Electronic Cigarette Industry Group says sales have boomed in recent years, turning the gadgets into a $2 billion-a-year business.
The group’s president, Eric Criss, said e-cigarettes are intended to be a safer alternative for people who already smoke.
“We feel very strongly that we not be taxed and regulated as a tobacco product because our goal as an industry is to distinguish ourselves from traditional tobacco cigarettes,” he said. “We believe there’s a ladder of harm. Cigarettes are at the top of that, and our goal is to get people to move down that ladder.”
The science behind that claim is far from settled. The industry points to research — some of it funded by e-cigarette interests — that shows the products to be less risky to users, sometimes called “vapers,” and bystanders alike. Robert West, a health psychology professor at University College London, maintains that a global switch from tobacco cigarettes to atomized nicotine would save millions of lives a year.
Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education at the University of California at San Francisco, agreed that e-cigarettes appear to be less harmful than tobacco but said they’re hardly risk-free.
He said most smokers don’t give up tobacco cigarettes entirely when they use electronic ones, so their health doesn’t improve much. And while bystanders aren’t exposed to secondhand smoke, he said, initial research shows that they’re still inhaling nicotine, an addictive substance, along with toxic chemicals and ultrafine particles that can cause heart problems.
“Just because someone chooses to service their (nicotine) addiction by using an e-cigarette, that still doesn’t create a right for them to poison people in the neighborhood,” Glantz said.
The FDA says a federal appeals court has given it the power to regulate e-cigarettes as though they are tobacco products. The agency has a proposed regulation in the works, and while officials won’t say what it contains, public health advocates and industry representatives expect the FDA to assert its authority over e-cigarettes.
Many states are waiting for that to happen before deciding whether to incorporate e-cigarettes into smoking bans, but Glantz argues that new rules could take years to finalize and aren’t necessary for states to tighten their clean air laws.
Three states — North Dakota, New Jersey and Utah — already include e-cigarettes in their smoking bans, and about 100 cities and counties nationwide have taken similar steps, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.
But Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, said the research on e-cigarettes’ secondhand effects is still too preliminary to act upon.
“It’s still evolving, and it will still (take) time until we know the total health effects,” she said.
Chicago Ald. Edward Burke, who often takes up health issues, has a proposed ordinance before the City Council to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. He said he might try to amend it to make e-cigarettes subject to the city’s smoking ban.
“I think we certainly should apply the same regulations to e-cigarettes that we apply to regular cigarettes,” the 14th Ward alderman said.
For now, though, the devices exist in a mishmash of vague and confusing regulations. They’re not allowed to be used on airplanes, though the U.S. Department of Transportation doesn’t explicitly ban them. They’re not allowed in Chicago’s airports, though city ordinances are silent on the point.
“As a practical matter, airport staff does not determine if a cigarette that is being smoked is a tobacco cigarette or an e-cigarette,” said Karen Pride, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation. “As such, the use of electronic cigarettes, as with tobacco cigarettes, is prohibited in the airports.”
While the city allows bar patrons to partake of e-cigarettes, taverns make their own rules. Declan’s Irish Pub in Old Town and Lange’s Lounge in Lakeview have no problems with the devices, but Joe’s Bar, a Goose Island establishment, says no.
“We don’t allow it inside because it promotes other people to take out their cigarettes and smoke them,” general manager Bob Casey said.
Despite the lack of clarity over e-cigarette use, several boutique shops selling the devices have sprung up in the city. Jared Yucht, owner of Smoque Vapours, said he started creating “e-liquids” in his basement when he stopped smoking. He opened his first store and lounge in Lakeview last spring and added a second location in the Loop this month.
He said he is proud of his safety precautions, carefully monitoring the nicotine levels of his products and refusing to sell to minors, though neither step is yet required by law.
“I don’t know anyone who owns another store who serves underage,” he said. “I have children and I wouldn’t want them taking stimulants at a young age. It’s an unwritten rule in the community that this is an adult activity for adults.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-electronic-cigarettes-20131115,0,5010760.story?page=1

CDC: More teens smoking e-cigarettes, hookah

By RYAN JASLOW / CBS NEWS
More middle and high school students are smoking electronic cigarettes, hookahs and cigars, according to a new government report form the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While rates for those tobacco products have increased, overall youth smoking rates haven’t declined at all, a concerning figure for health officials.
“We need effective action to protect our kids from addiction to nicotine,” Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said in an agency press release.
For the new report, researchers combed data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally-representative poll of about 25,000 students in grades six through 12 on their tobacco use habits and attitudes towards smoking.
They found recent e-cigarette use among high school students rose to 2.8 percent in 2012, up from 1.5 percent the year before. About 1.1 percent of middle school students reported using the products, up from 0.6 percent in 2011.

E-cigarette use among youths surges

In September, the CDC released a report that found the number of middle and high school students who ever used an e-cigarette doubled, from 1.4 percent and 4.7 percent of surveyed students in 2011 to 2.7 percent and 10 percent by 2012, respectively.
Hookah use was also looked at in the new report. The CDC finding smoking rates increased from 4.1 percent of high schoolers in 2011 to 5.4 percent by 2012.
Cigar use rose “dramatically” among black high school students, with 16.7 percent reporting using them, up from 11.7 percent in 2011 and a doubling of rates since 2009.
Included in cigars were flavored little cigars or cigarillos, which contain fruit or candy flavorings and tend to look similar to cigarettes. They are often cheaper because they are taxed at lower rates and can be sold individually.
Last month, the CDC also released a report on youth smoking rates for flavored little cigars, finding six percent of surveyed middle and high students said they had tried them.
E-cigarettes, hookahs, cigars and other “new” tobacco products are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, the CDC points out. Increases in the marketing and availability of these products — along with a misconception they’re safer than cigarettes — may be fueling these increases in kids.
“This report raises a red flag about newer tobacco products,” said Frieden. “Cigars and hookah tobacco are smoked tobacco — addictive and deadly.”
Overall, about 7 percent of middle school students reported smoking any tobacco product along with 23 percent of high school students, rates unchanged from 2011.
The new report was published Nov. 14 in the CDC’s journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The FDA intends to propose a rule to tighten regulation of non-cigarette nicotine products like e-cigarettes. The authors also called for more tobacco-control measures implemented to these newer products, including increasing the price of them, using media campaigns aimed at curbing smoking, increasing access to services that help people quit and enforcing restrictions on advertising and promotion.
Under the Affordable Care Act, more Americans will qualify to coverage for tobacco cessation services, the CDC added.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57612410/cdc-more-teens-smoking-e-cigarettes-hookah/

More U.S. Teens Try E-Cigarettes, Hookahs: Report

By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter – US News
(HealthDay News) — The rapidly growing use of electronic cigarettes, hookahs and other smoking alternatives by middle school and high school students concerns U.S. health officials.
While use of these devices nearly doubled in some cases between 2011 and 2012, no corresponding decline has been seen in cigarette smoking, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
“We have seen, between 2011 and 2012, a big increase in the percentage of middle- and high-school students who are using non-conventional tobacco products, particularly electronic cigarettes and hookahs,” said Brian King, a senior scientific adviser in CDC’s office on smoking and health.
These products are marketed in innovative ways on TV and through social media, he said. “So, it’s not surprising that we are seeing this increase among youth,” he added.
E-cigarettes and hookah tobacco come in flavors, which appeals to kids. And since hookahs are often used in groups, they also provide a social experience, which may be adding to their popularity, King said.
Teens may also believe that e-cigarettes are safer than tobacco, said Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco. However, nicotine is addictive and can hamper the developing brains of teens.
“This paper shows that the return of nicotine advertising to TV and radio, combined with an aggressive social media presence and use of flavors is promoting rapid uptake of electronic cigarettes by youth,” said Glantz.
The report, based on data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey, was published in the Nov. 15 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
King said efforts are needed to curb use of these tobacco products and prevent other teens from ever trying them. “We know that 90 percent of smokers start in their teens, so if we can stop them from using tobacco at this point, we could potentially prevent another generation from being addicted to tobacco,” King noted.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 1,200 people every day.
E-cigarettes simulate the experience of smoking without delivering smoke. They are shaped like cigarettes but users inhale a vaporized, nicotine-based liquid.
“Nicotine is an addictive drug that affects brain development, especially in adolescents, whose brains are still developing,” he said.
According to the report, from 2011 to 2012 use of e-cigarettes among middle-school students rose from 0.6 percent to 1.1 percent. Their use by high school students jumped from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent.
Over the same period, hookah use among high schoolers jumped from 4.1 percent to 5.4 percent, the researchers found.
Currently, electronic cigarettes, hookah tobacco, cigars and certain other new tobacco products are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA has said it intends to classify these products as tobacco products, putting them under the agency’s control.
The popularity of these new products hurts ongoing tobacco-prevention efforts, experts say. “This proliferation of novel tobacco products that are priced and marketed to appeal to kids are slowing our progress in reducing tobacco use among kids,” said Danny McGoldrick, research director for Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
“You have the marketing of electronic cigarettes that are using all the themes and tactics that have been used by cigarette companies for decades to market to kids, like flavors, the use of celebrities, the use of sports and entertainment, as well as glamour, sex and rebellion,” he said.
This is why the FDA needs to assert jurisdiction over all tobacco products, McGoldrick said.
Cigar use is also rising among adolescents. Their use by black high school students rose from about 12 percent to nearly 17 percent from 2011 to 2012, and since 2009 has more than doubled, according to the report.
Cigars and cigarettes were smoked by about the same number of boys in 2012 — more than 16 percent.
Cigars include so-called “little cigars,” which are similar in size, shape and filter to cigarettes, King said. But since they are taxed at lower rates than cigarettes, they are more affordable. “You can buy a single, flavored little cigar for mere pocket change, which could increase their appeal among youth,” he said.
Fruit and candy flavors, which are banned from cigarettes, are added to some of these little cigars, King said.
According to the CDC, about one in three middle- and high-school students who smoke cigars use flavored little cigars.
Every day, more than 2,000 teens and young adults start smoking. Smoking-related diseases cost $96 billion a year in direct health care expenses, according to the CDC.
More information
For more information on stopping smoking, visit the American Cancer Society.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/11/14/more-us-teens-try-e-cigarettes-hookahs-report

Flavored cigarette use increasing

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn (KFGO AM) — A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found four out of ten teen smokers prefer flavored little cigars or flavored cigarettes.
Bob Moffitt is with the American Lung Association of Minnesota and says the data also shows kids using the flavored products are less likely to think about quitting than those who smoke traditional cigarettes.
Moffitt says these products are also appealing to teens because they are cheaper and taxed differently.
Moffitt would like to see Minnesota lawmakers draft legislation that would close some of the tax loopholes involving flavored tobacco products.
http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2013/oct/24/flavored-cigarette-use-increasing/

Flavors lure 42% of young smokers

By Wendy Koch , USA TODAY

Two of every five youth smokers use cigarettes or look-alike cigars that are flavored, says a U.S. government report Tuesday that’s intensifying the call for federal control of all tobacco products including electronic cigarettes.
Of middle-school and high-school students who currently smoke, 42.4% reported using menthol cigarettes or flavored little cigars, which are often cheaper, says a survey by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such usage was higher among older teens than tweens.
“Flavors can mask the harshness and taste of tobacco, making flavored-tobacco products appealing to youth,” says the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey, adding they can cause kids to develop a lifelong tobacco habit. The survey notes smoking remains the nation’s single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death.
Flavored or not, “little cigars contain the same toxic and cancer-causing ingredients found in cigarettes and are not a safe alternative to cigarettes,” Tim McAfee, who directs CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said in releasing the results. “Many flavored little cigars appear virtually indistinguishable from cigarettes with similar sizes, shapes, filters and packaging.”
In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes but exempted menthol ones. In July, the FDA reported that menthol cigarettes cause more youth to begin smoking, boost dependence on tobacco and reduce success in quitting smoking, especially among African Americans.
So sweet-flavored little cigars, not covered by the federal ban, have gained popularity not only among U.S. kids but also among adults. A recent government survey found that more than two-fifths of current adult cigar smokers used flavored cigars during 2009 and 2010.
“The FDA should act promptly to assert regulatory authority over all tobacco products, including cigars,” says Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, arguing tobacco companies are circumventing the ban on sweet-flavored cigarettes by marketing similarly flavored look-alike cigars. “The FDA must close this loophole.”
The study also shows that among youth cigar smokers, almost 60% of those who smoke flavored little cigars are not thinking about quitting tobacco use, compared with just over 49% among all other cigar smokers. The CDC says sales of little cigars, taxed at a lower rate than cigarettes, jumped 240% from 1997 to 2007, and flavored brands account for nearly 80% of market share.
The youth survey, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health,found that slightly more than a third, or 35.4%, of current youth cigarette smokers said they used flavored cigarettes, which could include menthol ones or flavored little cigars that students mistook for cigarettes. The share went up to 42.4% when current cigar users were included.
Myers says some state and local governments — Maine, New York City and Providence — are moving to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including little cigars. More are also banning the sale to minors of electronic or e-cigarettes, which don’t burn tobacco but contain a nicotine solution that is emitted as vapor when a user inhales. This nicotine is derived from tobacco leaf.
A CDC-conducted survey last month found that youth usage of e-cigarettes, also not subject to FDA regulation, has recently doubled. Last year, 10% of high school students said they tried e-cigarettes, up from 4.7% in 2011. A doubling also occurred among U.S. middle school students saying they’ve experimented with e-cigarettes.
While some of the largest e-cigarette manufacturers, including R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris’ parent company Altria, don’t make sweet-flavored e-cigarettes, many other companies do. E-cigarettes — some marketed as “juice pens” — come in chocolate, Fuji apple, Bombay mango, vanilla, cherry crush, and peach schapps.
Blu e-Cigs, a brand that Lorillard bought last year, “are not attractive to kids” despite their multiple flavors, says James Healy, the company’s founder. Myers and other tobacco critics disagree, citing data showing how many kids are lured by flavors.
The FDA, which said three years ago that it would expand its authority to regulate other tobacco products, is expected soon to take the first steps in that direction.
 http://www.freep.com/article/20131023/FEATURES01/310230060/Flavors-lure-42-of-young-smokers