Teen E-Cigarette Use Rises Rapidly

Use of e-cigarettes by U.S. teens doubled in just a year, a new report says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the report. It was based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey from 2011 and 2012. The surveys included students in grades 6 through 12. The percentage of high school students who had ever used e-cigarettes rose from 4.7% to 10%. About 2.8% had used them in the last month, compared with 1.5% in the first year of the survey. Numbers for middle school students were smaller, but they also doubled. Electronic cigarettes don’t burn tobacco. They release a vapor that often contains nicotine. The tobacco industry says they can be used to help adults quit smoking. But that’s not how the teenagers were using them. About 76% of e-cigarette users also smoked cigarettes. Among middle schoolers, 20% of users had never smoked tobacco.