E-Cigarettes: Hooking a New Generation

Recently a father contacted CEH with concerns about his 16-year-old son's health. The teenager had purchased nicotine-laced e-liquids from a website that had no age verification or nicotine warnings. The packaging on the e-liquid also had no warning labels, despite the known health consequences of exposure to nicotine. Angry and frustrated at the lack of rules on e-cigarettes, the dad told us, "If you can help get them to do the right thing, that would be awesome." Parents around the country are now realizing that they need to learn more about e-cigarettes and their children's health. According to recent research by the Centers for Disease Control, the e-cigarette industry aggressively targets teens in their advertising, with nearly 70 percent of middle and high school students exposed to e-cigarette ads. As the tobacco industry knows from a century of experience, their advertising works: E-cigarette use is skyrocketing among teenagers. "Vaping" proponents say that e-cigarettes are primarily used by smokers as a cessation aid, but according to CDC chief Dr. Tom Friedman, the tobacco industry has another reason for the spate of ad dollars targeted at our kids. As he told the Los Angeles Times, "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." Meanwhile the evidence of health risks from e-cigarettes continues to mount. A recent study found tha...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news