Electronic cigarette usage has doubled among American middle and high school students in the past year, and some local experts and young e-cigarette users are butting heads about the consequences.
The number of adolescents in grades 6 through 12 who have used e-cigarettes at least once rose from 3.3 percent to 6.8 percent from 2011 to 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
TJ Harrington, a Santa Fe College professor and the executive director of the Tobacco Prevention Network of Florida, said electronic cigarettes can function as “youth initiation products.”
About 90 percent of new smokers are between the ages 11 and 18, he said, and the e-cigarette can be a product that introduces them to smoking.
“Tobacco companies are highly invested in the e-cigarette market and have been known for decades to market to a younger age group,” Harrington said, “and there is not enough information on the product for teenagers to know better.”
E-cigarettes often contain the addictive drug nicotine in smaller doses and are said to lack the tobacco and some of the toxins present in traditional cigarettes. The device heats a flavored liquid solution, which creates a vapor meant to simulate tobacco smoke.
Some UF health professionals expressed concerns about the effect electronic cigarettes may have on teenagers because they are still in the developmental stages.
Hannah Renno, who is in her last year at UF’s Pediatric Residency Program, said if adults spent their lives smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, it would “still be healthier than someone in the pediatric age range smoking electronic cigarettes at all.”
Alberto Regalado, a 20-year-old UF sociology junior, said he has seen the increase in popularity firsthand. When he went to buy his first e-cigarette in Miami for about $40, he saw two veteran smokers trying out the electronic device.
“I went two or three months later to buy new liquid,” he said. “It was 2 p.m. on a Monday, and it was literally packed.”
Regalado added that he’s a big fan of the devices. He said he gives them credit for getting his mother, who smoked for 25 years, to quit.
Regalado’s favorite flavors are inspired by desserts like apple pie and biscotti, but he’s also a fan of the sweet flavors’ even sweeter side effects, he said.
“I went from girls telling me, ‘Ew, you smell like cigarettes,’ to girls telling me, ‘That smells really good,’” he said. “Apparently I taste like it, too, so that’s a plus.”
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 9/10/2013 under the headline "Electronic cigarette usage doubles, concerns local experts"
