The use of nontraditional tobacco products like e-cigarettes among middle school and high school students continues to increase, which has prevented a decrease in overall tobacco use among this population, according to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Here are five things to know about tobacco use among middle school and high school students.
1. The steady rise of the e-cigarette: Sixteen percent of high school and 5.3 percent of middle school students reported using e-cigarettes in 2015, making e-cigarettes the most frequently used tobacco product among this population for the second successive year. E-cigarette usage rates rose from 1.5 percent to 16 percent among high school students and from 0.6 percent to 5.3 percent among middle school students from 2011 to 2015.
2. The dangers of e-puffing: "No form of youth tobacco use is safe. Nicotine is an addictive drug and use during adolescence may cause lasting harm to brain development," said Tom Frieden, MD, director of the CDC.
3. A variety of products: While e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes were numbers one and two in frequency of usage, adolescents also reported using a variety of tobacco products, including cigars, hookahs and smokeless tobacco. In 2015, 25 percent of high school students reported present usage of any tobacco product. "We're very concerned that one in four high school students use tobacco, and that almost half of those use more than one product," said Corinne Graffunder, DrPH, director of CDC's Office on Smoking and Health.
4. The FDA: While the Food and Drug Administration has regulatory dominion over cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, that authority does not extend to e-cigarettes and hookahs. "The FDA remains deeply concerned about the overall high rate at which children and adolescents use tobacco products, including novel products such as e-cigarettes and hookah...finalizing the rule to bring additional products under the agency's tobacco authority is one of our highest priorities, and we look forward to a day in the near future when such products are properly regulated and responsibly marketed," said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products.
5. Cigarettes: While cigarette smoking saw a decline in this population between 2011 and 2015, no statistically significant reduction in use occurred between 2014 and 2015. If current smoking rates continue, 5.6 million Americans under 18 years of age who are alive today are projected to die prematurely from smoking-related disease.