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House Dems call for cigar, e-cigarette regulations over 'kid-friendly' products

By Julian Hattem
A group of House Democrats is calling on the Obama administration to issue new rules for cigars and electronic cigarettes.
In a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday, the lawmakers asked regulators “to act quickly” with new rules for the products, over which the federal government currently has little oversight.
“Manufacturers of e-cigarettes are taking advantage of this regulatory loophole to target children,” wrote Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.). “As a result, some e-cigarette makers are producing products with kid-friendly flavors such as ‘Cherry Crush’ and ‘Cookies & Cream Milkshake.’ ”
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 1.78 million middle- and high-school students have used e-cigarettes, which vaporize nicotine without producing smoke.
“With over a million youth now using e-cigarettes, FDA needs to act without further delay to protect public health,” the lawmakers added.
The group of legislators also sent a separate letter to Republican leaders on the Energy and Commerce Committee, on which Waxman is the top Democrat, requesting a hearing on the health risks posed by the tobacco products and the FDA’s authority to impose new rules.
The FDA, which oversees cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, has been working on regulations to expand its oversight to e-cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco, which are currently exempt from its rules.
Those rules have been under development at the FDA for years.
Bringing the tobacco products under the agency’s jurisdiction could subject them to new fees and restrictions, which some tobacco companies have worried could unfairly single them out with overly restrictive rules.
Health organizations and some tobacco giants have backed the FDA’s efforts, arguing that new regulations would protect the public health and level the playing field for tobacco companies.
According to the Obama administration’s spring roadmap for new regulations, a proposal to expand the FDA’s oversight could be released in October.
Earlier in September, Senate Democrats used the CDC’s findings to encourage the FDA to “redouble” its efforts.
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/pending-regs/322519-house-dems-call-for-cigar-e-cigarette-regulations#ixzz2fBmaZlYm

Study: Kids of smokers are more likely to smoke

Written by:  HealthDay

Teens of a parent who smoked — even if the mother or father quit before the teen was born — are more likely to smoke than those whose parents are nonsmokers, a new study finds.
Having an older brother or sister who smokes also raises the odds that a teen will pick up the habit, the researchers report.
“These findings imply that any amount of smoking could have important influences on the next generation,” said lead researcher Mike Vuolo, an assistant professor of sociology at Purdue University. “Given the influence on the oldest siblings, this is especially the case in heavy-smoking households.”
Vuolo and co-author Jeremy Staff, an associate professor of sociology at Pennsylvania State University, analyzed data from a multigenerational study that has followed participants since 1988, when they were freshmen in high school, to 2011. They focused on 214 now-parents and 314 of their children aged 11 and older.
Annual survey results uncovered four patterns of smoking: teens who were persistent heavy smokers, teens who were light smokers who quit or reduced use, teens who started smoking later and nonsmokers.
Their children were then surveyed in 2011.
“Surprisingly, we found similar odds of smoking among the children for the three smoking groups (23 percent to 29 percent) compared with children of nonsmokers (8 percent),” Vuolo said.
In homes with a persistent heavy-smoking parent, the oldest sibling is influenced to smoke, which in turn increases the chances that younger siblings will smoke by six times, he added.
“We should educate young people that smoking at any time in their lives could have influences on their children. Also, preventative efforts should target heavy-smoking households, trying to break the cycle of influence on the oldest siblings,” Vuolo said.
The report was published online Aug. 5 and in the September print issue of Pediatrics.
Dr. John Spangler, a professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, said there may well be a genetic component to these findings.
“This study confirms what we have already sensed, that there is a family history of tobacco use among many smokers,” Spangler said. “We know that people are more likely to uses substances like alcohol based on family history, the same holds true for tobacco use.”
This may point to a genetic predisposition to metabolize nicotine or dopamine differently, he said.
“We should encourage doctors to ask about a family history of smoking, because if there is a family history of smoking then that individual is more likely to be a smoker in the future,” Spangler said.
Parents who were former smokers should realize their child is more likely to become a smoker. These parents may want to discuss smoking with their children with an eye toward preventing it.
“This may also be a good way for physicians to counsel parents about and children about tobacco use — that there is this risk factor,” Spangler said.
Another expert agreed that parents who smoke should make every effort to quit, but said that further measures are needed.
“Even parents who are unable to quit should make their cars and homes smoke-free, send clear messages to their children about not smoking and support policies and programs like increased tobacco taxes, smoke-free laws and comprehensive prevention and cessation programs that are proven to reduce smoking among kids and adults,,” said Danny McGoldrick, vice president for research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
http://www.guampdn.com/article/20130916/LIFESTYLE/309160023/Study-Kids-smokers-more-likely-smoke

Study: Methol cigarettes are a gateway product for young people and smoking

by 
Young people are heavy users of menthol cigarettes, and their popularity is undermining efforts to reduce smoking in youths.
That is the conclusion of a new University at Buffalo study that comes out as the Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to limit or ban the sale of menthol cigarettes because of rising concern that the flavoring is more likely to encourage young people to start smoking and that menthol smokers are more addicted.
Authors of the UB study say their work adds to the scientific evidence and should be reviewed by the FDA, which just pushed back the deadline for public comment on potential government regulation to Nov. 22.
The results, which were published online in the journal Tobacco Control, are based on national data from 2004 to 2010 of about 390,000 people age 12 and older. Among the conclusions:
— Menthol cigarette use was more common among 12– to 17-year-olds. Among smokers, nearly 57 percent in this age group used menthol cigarettes. By comparison, about 31 percent of older persons used mentholated cigarettes.
— Those most likely to smoke menthol cigarettes were young, female and black.
— For adolescents, the percentage who smoked non-menthol cigarettes decreased, while menthol smoking rates remained constant. For all young adults, the percentage who smoked non-menthol cigarettes also declined, while menthol smoking rates increased.
— Two brands, Camel menthol and Marlboro menthol cigarettes, experienced notable increased use among adolescent and young adult smokers, particularly non-Hispanic whites.
“Overall menthol cigarette smoking has either remained constant or increased in all the age groups we studied, while non-menthol smoking has decreased,” said Gary Giovino, lead researcher and chairman of the UB Department of Community Health and Health Behaviors.
“Our study indicates that mentholated cigarettes are a ‘starter product’ for kids,” he said. “Menthol lessens the harshness of the smoke. It sweetens the poison.”
Giovino said some young people also believe menthol cigarettes are safer because they don’t feel as harsh as non-menthol cigarettes.
Funding for the research was provided by Legacy, a non-profit organization focused on reducing tobacco use.
“Our findings support that the presence of menthol cigarettes in the marketplace has slowed progress in reducing smoking prevalence in the U.S. This is of great concern given the tremendous health effects of smoking cigarettes,” Andrea Villanti, co-author of the study, said in a statement.
She is associate director for regulatory science and policy at Legacy’s Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies.
When the government passed the Family Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009, the FDA banned all flavored cigarettes except for menthol to discourage minors from purchasing the products. But the law required the federal agency to review the science behind menthol cigarettes.
A committee concluded in 2011 that removing menthol cigarettes from the market would benefit public health.
In July, the FDA released a report on current science on menthol cigarettes, and it concluded that there is little evidence to suggest that menthol cigarettes are more or less harmful than non-menthol cigarette.
However, it said menthol probably encourages young people to start smoking and leads to greater addiction than non-menthol cigarettes.
The science is clear that menthol cigarettes pose a threat to public health, and they should be banned, according to a recent statement from Thomas Glynn, director of cancer science at the American Cancer Society.
Cigarette-makers take a different stance.
The best available scientific evidence demonstrates that menthol cigarettes have the same health effects as non-menthol cigarettes, and consumers should have the right to make a personal choice to use any legal product, according to a statement by Lorillard Inc., maker of Newport menthol cigarettes.
Newport is the top-selling menthol and second-largest-selling cigarette brand overall in the United States, the company says.
http://medcitynews.com/2013/09/study-methol-cigarettes-are-a-gateway-product-for-young-people-and-smoking/#ixzz2f4Mr21ZV

Education secretary pushes for higher cigarette tax to extend early childhood education to another 1.1 million kids

By Milan Simonich, Texas-New Mexico Newspapers
SANTA FE — U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan rode a brightly painted bus into New Mexico on Monday, then gave a gloomy overview of state schools.
New Mexico begins each school year with about 30,000 students in ninth grade. But only about 20,000 of them graduate from high school in four years, Duncan said during a town hall meeting.
He said the problems of failing students and dropouts begin long before high school. That is why the Obama administration wants to spend more than $75 billion to expand prekindergarten education, Duncan told a room jammed with more than 150 supporters of the idea.
Under President Obama’s plan, much of the money to expand early childhood education would come from a federal tax increase of 94 cents a pack on cigarettes. States that wanted to tap into the national account would voluntarily join the program and then contribute a portion of the cost for expanding early childhood education.
In New Mexico, about 17,000 kids are without access to pre-kindergarten programs. Including them would be the key building block for success in school at every level, Duncan said.
“This is the best investment we could make in our babies,” he said.
Duncan called this “an uphill battle so far,” but said it should have bipartisan support.
He said the initiative would double the number of kids in pre-kindergarten programs nationally, from 1.1 million to 2.2 million.
The pre-kindergarten education proposal is the main reason that Duncan and his staff are on their back-to-school bus tour of New Mexico, El Paso, Arizona and Southern California. Their campaign for more early childhood education funding is called Strong Start, Bright Future.
Rick Geraci, New Mexico Military Institute commandant of cadets, joined Duncan in publicly backing the initiative.
Geraci said improving early childhood education would improve national security. As it stands, he said, many young people who want to join a branch of the military are denied because they are poorly educated.
He said extra emphasis on early childhood education would keep more kids out of jail and enable them to serve their country in the military.
Milan Simonich, Santa Fe Bureau chief of Texas-New Mexico Newspapers, can be reached at 505-820-6898.

Tobacco Companies Target Youth, Mislead Public About Smokeless Products In Order To Maintain Profits

By 
British American Tobacco (BAT), the maker of Lucky Strike, Dunhill, and Pall Mall cigarettes, has recently spent some time promoting its smokeless tobacco brands, saying that snus, a moist tobacco that’s typically placed under the upper lip, is “at least 90 percent less harmful than smoking cigarettes.” But new research, meant to serve as information for tobacco policy in the European Union (EU), finds that BAT and other tobacco companies aren’t really concerned about the public’s health and, rather, are more concerned about maintaining profits should cigarette sales decline.
Snus, one of the many forms of smokeless tobacco, is currently banned in every country in the EU except for Sweden. Researchers with the UK Center for Tobacco Control Studies were tasked with finding information regarding transnational tobacco companies’ interests in smokeless tobacco from the 1970s to the present, to better inform policymakers in their decision, according to a statement.

It’s All For The Profits

By comparing the tobacco industry’s internal documents to its campaigns to help reduce public harm with smokeless tobacco, the researchers found that “there is clear evidence that [British American Tobacco’s] early interest in introducing [smokeless tobacco] in Europe was based on the potential for creating an alternative form of tobacco use in light of declining cigarette sales and social restrictions on smoking, with young people a key target,” they wrote.
BAT’s internal documents note cigarettes’ declining popularity, saying, “We have no wish to aid or hasten any decline in cigarette smoking. Deeper involvement in smokeless is strategically defensible. There are fewer people in sophisticated markets starting to smoke. There are increasing numbers of people giving up. There are increasing restrictions on smoking, particularly in public, whether by law or by society.”
An estimated 10 million people currently smoke cigarettes in the UK, and 29 percent ofall citizens of the EU smoke. Numerous campaigns to help people quit — 31 percent of EU smokers have tried to quit in the last year — have been implemented, even including an iPhone app that analyzes smoking habits and provides daily, customized advice. With such campaigns, smoking rates have gone down across the continent.
Although there may be lower levels of the carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines in smokeless tobacco, the National Cancer Institute says that there are still at least 28 chemicals that have been found to cause cancer. Smokeless tobacco has been found to cause oral, esophageal, and pancreatic cancers.

Smokeless Tobacco, Cigarettes, and the Youth

BAT and other tobacco companies specifically target young people in their smokeless tobacco campaigns, the authors said. Portioning snus made it easier to use for young people, and the companies chose which markets to test throughout Europe based on youth and student populations. When certain brands of snus were launched in the UK, “students were both the target and the means of promotion.”
“The fact that smokeless tobacco investments in Europe coincided with the implementation of smoke-free policies, combined with evidence of the industry’s promotion of dual cigarette and snus use in the U.S., add weight to the concern that transnational tobacco companies may hope to exploit snus as a way to reduce the impact of regulations aimed at reducing smoking rates,” the authors wrote. Last month, a study from the Harvard School of Public Health found that rather than replacing cigarettes with smokeless tobacco, one in 20 middle and high school students were using both.
The authors concluded that the “Swedish experience” with snus could not be generalized to other countries in which snus is not as popular. They say that evidence pointed directly to the industry’s interest in snus “because it could be used in smoke-free environments and could be promoted to young, non-tobacco users to create a new form of tobacco use. This last finding lends support to concerns that smokeless tobacco may lead to, rather than from, smoking.”
Source: Peeters S, Gilmore A. Transnational Tobacco Company Interests in Smokeless Tobacco in Europe: Analysis of Internal Industry Documents and Contemporary Industry Materials. PLOS Medicine. 2013.

Duluth News Tribune view: Obvious danger requires fair and responsible rules

The packaging on electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, doesn’t say much. Which actually is kind of scary. Just what’s being inhaled into the body when “vaping?” Certainly not just vapors, as suggested by the slang verb for puffing on the products. And what’s being exhaled for everyone around to breathe in and ingest?
One thing the packaging does say: e-cigarettes contain nicotine. How much? Doesn’t say, and, according to experts, it can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and from brand to brand. But does it even matter? It’s not like there’s such a thing as a safe amount of the highly addictive, cancer-causing drug nicotine.
Even scarier? E-cigarettes, as addictive, dangerous and harmful to health as they may be, are actively being marketed to kids, just the way tobacco cigarettes used to be. Remember Joe Camel and the portrayal of smoking as cool and hip and what everyone who’s anyone was doing? This time — powered by nearly $21 million in advertising in 2012, according to the New York Times — it’s kid-friendly flavors like watermelon and cookies-and-cream milkshake and the portrayal of vaping as cool and hip and what everyone who’s anyone is doing.
Unlike tobacco, however — and this may be most troubling of all — kids can buy e-cigarettes easily and legally, including online. And they are. The percentage of U.S. middle school and high school students taking drags on e-cigarettes more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week. In 2012, more than 1.78 million middle school and high school students nationwide had tried e-cigarettes, a precursor to tobacco cigarettes.
So something clearly has to be done, right, before a whole new generation embraces a filthy, unhealthy habit and sees it as just a normal part of our culture? On Monday, the Duluth City Council has an opportunity to take some sensible action.
The first of three ordinances the council owes it to the community to approve would require a license to sell e-cigarettes the same way sellers of tobacco have to be licensed. In fact, an existing tobacco license would cover e-cigarettes under the measure. A second ordinance would prohibit the use of e-cigarettes in places already designated by law as no-smoking, like inside public buildings, along the Lakewalk, at bus stops and elsewhere. And a third ordinance would close a loophole in clean indoor air laws meant to allow the sampling of tobacco in tobacco shops prior to purchase. Some are exploiting that provision to sell group-smoking experiences in lounge settings.
“The big misconception for a couple of weeks was that Duluth wants to ban e-cigarettes. That’s not it at all,” Jill Doberstein, program manager for tobacco prevention and control for the American Lung Association in Duluth, said in an interview last week with the News Tribune editorial board.
No, the idea is responsible regulation of their use, not the banning of e-cigarettes altogether.
Some users of e-cigarettes swear by their effectiveness in quitting tobacco even though the government has yet to certify them as safe and effective smoking-cessation devices the way it has nicotine patches and other products.
The safety and effectiveness for smoking cessation of e-cigarettes is still being studied and determined, and while the jury is out, adults certainly should be allowed to ignore the health risks and dangers and use e-cigarettes. They can be allowed to forget that the only safe air to breathe is clean air. It is a free country.
But allowing e-cigarettes to pollute the air of others, to be pushed on unsuspecting kids, or to be used without any rules, regulations or controls whatsoever is, well, it’s just downright scary.
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/277303/

A look at e-cigarettes by M. D. Anderson

HOUSTON – With the third and largest of the U.S. tobacco companies planning an e-cigarette product launch this fall, this next frontier for “Big Tobacco” provides renewed presence in a declining marketplace.
It’s also a potential gateway to new smokers, particularly among teens and in emerging/foreign markets, according to behavioral scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that provide inhaled doses of nicotine vapors and flavorings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 6 percent of adults have tried e-cigarettes, a number that has nearly doubled since 2010. Absent of tobacco, e-cigarettes have been promoted as a possible aid in getting people to stop smoking and thereby reducing their lung cancer risk.
However, MD Anderson cancer prevention experts Paul Cinciripini, Ph.D., director of the Tobacco Treatment Program, and Alexander Prokhorov, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Tobacco Outreach Education Program, caution that more research is needed to understand the potential role of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation.
“Independent studies must rigorously investigate e-cigarettes, as there’s considerable potential benefit in these products if they’re regulated and their safety is ensured,” says Cinciripini. “But promoting the e-cigarettes already on the shelves as ‘safe’ is misleading and, if looked at as a harmless alternative to cigarettes, could potentially lead to a new generation of smokers more likely to become tobacco dependent.”
E-cigarettes are unregulated and there’s little research on their safety or efficacy as smoking cessation tools. “These products are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and this is concerning because it’s impossible to know what you’re really getting or if it’s safe. In one analysis nicotine levels have been shown to vary widely among e-cigarette products,” says Prokhorov. For now, he recommends that those looking to quit stick with approved devices, such as nicotine inhalers.
Switching from tobacco to e-cigarettes could help smokers avoid approximately 6,000 chemicals, some of which are human carcinogens. “Reduced exposure to harmful chemicals warrants research of these products as a smoking cessation vehicle,” says Cinciripini. “Unbiased studies, free from the ethical and legal challenges of ‘Big Tobacco’-sponsored trials, are needed.”
Branded as “safer,” available in a variety of colors and flavors and promoted by celebrities, e-cigarettes could be a hook for future smokers. “E-cigarettes are a novel way to introduce tobacco smoking to young people, and their potential ‘gateway’ role should be a concern for parents and health officials alike,” adds Prokhorov.
With the impending introduction of another e-cigarette, Prokhorov and Cinciripini urge consumers to know the following information.
“Once a young person gets acquainted with nicotine, it’s more likely that they’ll try other tobacco products. E-cigarettes are a promising growth area for the tobacco companies, allowing them to diversify their addictive and lethal products with a so-called “safe cigarette,” says Prokhorov. “Unfortunately, there’s no proof that e-cigarettes are risk-free.”
Cinciripini has more than 30 years’ experience conducting basic and clinical research in smoking cessation and nicotine psychopharmacology. Prokhorov is the principal architect of MD Anderson’s ASPIRE program, a teen-focused website and, Tobacco Free Teens, a smartphone app – both are new approaches to keeping young people free from the grips of nicotine addiction.
MD Anderson is home to one of the largest tobacco research programs in the nation, part of the cancer center’s Cancer Prevention division. The Tobacco Treatment Program, funded by State of Texas Tobacco Settlement Funds, offers in-person behavioral counseling and tobacco-cessation medication treatments free to MD Anderson patients who are current tobacco users or recent quitters. The program also works with patient families and the general public.
http://www.thevindicator.com/news/article_142fa44c-17cf-11e3-bc86-0019bb2963f4.html

E-cigarettes Overused and Under-Regulated

The numbers of e-cigarette users is rapidly growing as is concern about the product. The latest research appears to support what many people have long feared, that these electronic cigarettes are both overused and under-regulated.
E-cigarettes are battery operated and produce, not smoke, but a nicotine vapor. They are promoted as a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes. Research just released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that one in 10 high school students now admit they’ve tried e-cigarettes and 7% of those say it’s the first cigarette, of any kind, that they’ve smoked.
The study also states that the percentage of US middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes has more than doubled from 2011 to 2012.
“The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling,” CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. said. “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.”
The research also states that 76.3% of middle and high school students who used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days also smoked conventional cigarettes in the same period.  More than 1.78 million middle and high school students nationwide tried e-cigarettes in 2012.
“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,” Mitch Zeller, director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said. “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.”
http://www.foxbaltimore.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/ecigarettes-overused-underregulated-22133.shtml#.Ui3i9mRUM0M

E-cigarette use doubles among U.S. teens

Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
The CDC survey comes as the federal government is expected to announce, as early as October, its plan to regulate these battery-powered devices as tobacco products.
Now chic among celebrities, electronic cigarettes are gaining favor among U.S. teenagers as new data show a recent doubling in usage.
Last year, 10% of high school students say they tried e-cigarettes, up from 4.7% in 2011, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A doubling also occurred among U.S. middle school students saying they’ve experimented with e-cigarettes — from 1.4% to 2.7% — and similar spikes in teen usage were found in the 2013 Florida Youth Tobacco Survey.
“The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said in announcing the findings. “Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes.”
The CDC survey comes as the federal government is expected to announce, as early as October, its plan to regulate these battery-powered devices as tobacco products. E-cigarettes heat a solution containing nicotine, which is derived from tobacco leaves, into a vapor that users inhale. While they don’t have the myriad chemicals of regular cigarettes, they still provide a nicotine kick.
“We don’t yet understand the long-term effects of these novel tobacco products,” Mitch Zeller, director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement. He said the survey’s findings reinforce why FDA plans to regulate the booming market of e-cigarettes, which each of the nation’s top three tobacco companies have joined in the last 16 months.
The annual survey found that while most teens who say they’ve used e-cigarettes also report using regular cigarettes, one in five middle school students who’ve tried the former say they’ve never tried the latter.
“This indicates that e-cigarettes could be a gateway to nicotine addiction and use of other tobacco products,” says Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. He blames this upswing on slick new marketing, which enlists celebrities including Jenny McCarthy, Stephen Dorff and Courtney Love for the pitches.
“These ads portray e-cigarette use as an act of rebellion, much like cigarette ads have done,” Myers says, adding they undercut efforts to de-glamorize smoking to kids. He also says the sweet flavors of some e-cigarettes, such as chocolate and “cherry crush,” lure youth.
The survey finds more teens aren’t just trying e-cigarettes once. Last year, 2.8% of high school students said they used them within the past 30 days, up from 1.5% in 2011. For middle school students, such usage rose from 0.6% to 1.1% during the same period.
The Florida survey, done by the state’s health department, provides similar but more recent data. This year, it found that 5.4% of the state’s high school students say they used e-cigarettes within the past month, up from 3.1% in 2011. It found that 12.1% of these students now say they’ve tried e-cigarettes at least once, up from 6.0% in 2011.
The e-cigarette industry says its product helps adult smokers kick the habit and is not aimed at kids. Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, the nation’s largest tobacco company, says it won’t sell its new e-cigarette — the Mark-Ten, which debuted last month — to minors. R.J. Reynolds, the second-largest tobacco company, says its newly revamped VUSE product is also targeted only at adults.
“We’re for responsible regulation,” including a ban on sales to kids, says Thomas Kiklas of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, an industry group.
More states, including Indiana and Mississippi, have banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, and others are seeking to tax the devices or extend indoor smoking restrictions to them.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/05/e-cigarette-use-doubles-among-us-teens/2768155/

E-Cigarette Use Doubles Among Students, Survey Shows

By SABRINA TAVERNISE
WASHINGTON — The share of middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes doubled in 2012 from the previous year, federal data show. The rise is prompting concerns among health officials that the new devices could be creating as many health problems as they are solving.
One in 10 high school students said they had tried an e-cigarette last year, according to a national survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from one in 20 in 2011. About 3 percent said they had used one in the last 30 days. In total, 1.8 million middle and high school students said they had tried e-cigarettes in 2012.
“This is really taking off among kids,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the C.D.C.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine that is vaporized to form an aerosol mist. Producers promote them as a healthy alternative to smoking, but researchers say their health effects are not yet clear, though most acknowledge that they are less harmful than traditional cigarettes. The Food and Drug Administration does not yet regulate them, though analysts expect that the agency will start soon.
One of the biggest concerns among health officials is the potential for e-cigarettes to become a path to smoking among young people who otherwise would not have experimented. The survey found that most students who had tried e-cigarettes had also smoked cigarettes.
But one in five middle school students who said they had tried e-cigarettes reported never having smoked a conventional cigarette, raising fears that e-cigarettes, at least for some, could become a gateway. Among high school students, 7 percent who had tried an e-cigarette said they had never smoked a traditional cigarette.
Dr. Frieden said that the adolescent brain is more susceptible to nicotine, and that the trend of rising use could hook young people who might then move into more harmful products like conventional cigarettes.
Murray S. Kessler, the chairman, president and chief executive of Lorillard, Inc., a North Carolina-based tobacco company that owns Blu eCigs, said that the rise in youth usage was “unacceptable,” and added that the company was “looking forward to a regulatory framework that restricts youth access” but does not “stifle what may be the most significant harm reduction opportunity that has ever been made available to smokers.
The sharp rise among students mirrored that among adult users and researchers said that it appeared to be driven, at least in part, by aggressive national marketing campaigns, some of which feature famous actors. (Producers say the ads are not aimed at adolescents.) E-cigarettes also come in flavors, which were banned in traditional cigarettes in 2009 and which health officials say appeal to young people.
“Kids love gadgets and the marketing for these things is in your face,” said Gary A. Giovino, a professor of health behavior at the University at Buffalo. He added that the rising use of e-cigarettes risked reversing societal trends in which smoking had fallen out of fashion.
About 6 percent of all adults – not just smokers – reported having tried e-cigarettes in 2011, according to a C.D.C. survey, about double the number from 2010. Data for adults in 2012 are not yet available, a spokesman said.
Mitchell Zeller, director of the F.D.A.’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement that the data were “a cause for great concern as we don’t yet understand the long-term effects of these novel tobacco products.” He said the agency intended to expand its authority to all tobacco products. Congress granted it authority over cigarettes in 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/health/e-cigarette-use-doubles-among-students-survey-shows.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0