CDC: E-cigarette Use Increased Among Teens Due To Promotional Ads

In a recent survey published by the Center of Disease Control, it was found that a higher percentage of middle school and high school students were now smoking e-cigarettes because of the commercial deployments electronic cigarette companies have been lately showing on TV. This might be one of the reasons why the electronic cigarettes are now the most popular tobacco product amongst this certain crowd.

In a survey conducted by the National Youth Tobacco Survey, it was revealed that a staggering 66 percent of middle school students have seen at least one e-cigarette commercial while, for the high school student, 71 percent have witnessed an e-cigarette commercial. The cost for e-cigarette commercials by company also rose since 2011, with commercial money only allotted at $6.4 million and rose to $115 million last 2014.

"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," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said . Freiden also added that the coincidence between the growth of teens using e-cigarettes and the increasing amount allotted for e-cigarettes commercial is not a coincidence.

For the authors of the study, which is published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, they believe that due to the high number of children being exposed to e-cigarette commercials the amount of children wanting to try it has also increased. Another allegation the authors also believe is the fact that advertising exposure could be higher than what it is now since a high amount of the students in the survey were not asked about being exposed to e-cigarette billboards.

The survey was done to 22,007 students from grade 6 through 12 both in public and private schools. Authors of the study are asking for stricter implementation of laws involving e-cigarettes as well as advertisement by the companies.

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