http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-ecigarettes-idUSL1N14P13P20160105
E-cigarette companies are reaching about seven in 10 U.S. middle- and high-school students with advertisements employing themes of sex, independence and rebellion that hooked previous generations on regular cigarettes, a government study released on Tuesday said.
The marketing strategy could reverse decades of progress in preventing tobacco use among youth, warned the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which suggested tighter controls on e-cigarette sales to reduce minors’ access.
“The same advertising tactics the tobacco industry used years ago to get kids addicted to nicotine are now being used to entice a new generation of young people to use e-cigarettes,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden.
The CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey found that 68.9 percent of middle- and high-school students saw e-cigarette ads from one or more media sources in 2014, most commonly in stores but also online, on television and in movies or magazines.
E-cigarette use among this age group soared over the past five years, surpassing its use of regular cigarettes in 2014, according to CDC statistics. Spending on e-cigarette advertising also jumped, increasing to an estimated $115 million in 2014 from $6.4 million in 2011.
E-cigarettes contain cartridges that typically hold nicotine as well as other liquids and flavorings, and a heating element to create a vapor that the user inhales.
Many researchers believe e-cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes, but the risks are still being studied.
“Youth use of tobacco in any form (combustible, noncombustible or electronic) is unsafe,” the CDC study said.
Exposure to tobacco at a young age may cause addiction and lasting harm to brain development, the agency reported.
Most states have passed laws banning the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s proposal to regulate the products is under federal review. (Reporting by Barbara Liston in Orlando, Fla.; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Lisa Von Ahn)