Young vapers ‘skyrocket’

– The number of young Americans using e-cigarettes grew by 1.5 million in 2018, undermining years of progress in reducing youth smoking, health authorities said.

About 3.6 million middle and high school students were current users of vaping products – up from 2.1 million the year before, according to the report by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC said the number of current cigarette smokers and consumers of other tobacco products in middle and high school remained roughly stable.

A current user is defined as a person who has used a product in the past 30 days.

The CDC said 4.9 million middle and high school students were current users of some type of tobacco product in 2018, up from 3.6 million in 2017, with the growth attributed to e-cigarettes.

“This is the greatest single year-over-year increase that we’ve ever seen in terms of any tobacco products,” said Brian King, deputy director for research translation at the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.

“And, of course, going back, we’ve seen consistent decline in tobacco product use for two decades,” King said.

CDC director Robert Redfield said the “skyrocketing” growth of young people’s e-cigarette use over the past year threatens to erase progress made in reducing youth tobacco use.

“It’s putting a new generation at risk for nicotine addiction,” Redfield said.

The CDC said e-cigarette use among high school students who use tobacco products increased from 11.7% to 20.8% from 2017 to 2018 and from 3.3% to 4.9% among middle school students.

Amid the rise in youth usage of e-cigarettes, US authorities have tightened regulations, with market leader Juul – particularly its flavoured products – coming under scrutiny.

“We are extraordinarily concerned about the ongoing appeal that all flavoured tobacco products have on kids,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the centre for tobacco products at the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates vaping and in November restricted the sale of certain flavours.

“All policy options are on the table,” Zeller warned.

Vaping began to take off among young Americans in 2010, and overtook cigarette smoking in 2014.

While the number of middle and high school cigarette smokers has been falling steadily since 2011, the number of vapers has increased dramatically, from 1.5% to the 20.8% last year.

The survey estimates 4.9% of college students vape.

The US categorises e-cigarettes as tobacco products, a definition not shared by all countries.

In November, Juul announced it was suspending sales of various flavoured products. – AFP

Washington