The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning teens about the dangers of e-cigarettes.
Calling it a "wild west" in terms of ingredients, Brian King, Ph.D., senior scientific advisor in CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health says, “Exposure to nicotine can harm adolescent brain development and can be toxic to fetuses. The standard for protecting the health of children and bystanders should be clean air, free of toxic secondhand smoke as well as ENDS aerosol.”
He says e-cigarettes are not regulated and the aerosol you breathe in is not harmless water vapor; "it can contain nicotine and other toxins."
The latest data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey showed 4.5 percent of all high school students and 1.1 percent of all middle school students had used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days in 2013.
“We know e-cigarettes are not safe for youth,” said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “While ENDS may have the potential to benefit established adult smokers if used as a complete substitute for all smoked tobacco products, ENDS should not be used by youth and adult non-tobacco users because of the harmful effects of nicotine and other risk exposures, as well as the risk for progression to other forms of tobacco use.”
The 2012 Surgeon General’s Report found that about 90 percent of all smokers’ first experiment as teens; and that about three of every four teen smokers become adult smokers-- even if they plan to quit in a few years.