A survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control shows the use of e-cigarettes by teenagers has tripled from 2013 to 2014.
According to a press release from the CDC, the National Youth Tobacco Survey from 2014 found that e-cigarette use of at least one per day in the past 30 days among high school students increased from 4.5 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent in 2014.
The press release read, “This is the first time since the survey started collecting data on e-cigarettes in 2011 that current e-cigarette has surpassed current use of every other tobacco product overall, including conventional cigarettes.”
Tom Frieden, CDC director, said in the press release, nicotine is dangerous for children at any age, regardless of the method in which it is administered.
“Adolescence is a critical time for brain development. Nicotine exposure at a young age may cause lasting harm to brain development, promote addiction, and lead to sustained tobacco use,” Frieden said.
Dr. Robert McMillen, associate director of the Tobacco Control Unit in the Social Science Research Center at MSU, said e-cigarettes are appealing across the board and are targeted toward teenagers because of the flavors companies put into them.
“Developing brains, when exposed to nicotine, are more likely to have an even stronger addiction than an adult would,” McMillen said.
The CDC press release also read that the increases in e-cigarette and hookah use offset the declines of traditional products, but there was no decline in overall tobacco use between 2011 and 2014.
“Overall rates of any tobacco product use were 24.6 percent for high school students and 7.7 percent for middle school students in 2014,” the CDC press release read.
McMillen said the chemicals that make cigarettes dangerous are also in e-cigarettes but at lower levels.  
“We are just now beginning to understand how harmful these drugs are.  It will be years before we know what e-cigarettes do to human lungs,” McMillen said. 
Dr. Joyce Yates, the director of the Health Education and Wellness department at MSU, said, in an email interview, her department monitors updated press releases about e-cigarettes from the Centers for Disease control.
“One of the claims of e-cigarette users is that these devices are harmless and that they do not contain chemicals that make traditional cigarettes harmful. This is not true,” Yates said.
McMillen said the common misconception about e-cigarette usage, produced by the companies that sell them, is that it is a harmless vapor.
“Their message is it is safer than cigarettes.  The health community has not done a good job educating the public about the e-cigarettes,” McMillen said. “A person exposed to secondhand smoke from an e-cigarette is exposed to the same amount of chemicals as regular cigarettes.”
McMillen said the Social Science Research Center is currently conducting a survey of MSU students to gauge their level of use of e-cigarettes. The study will conclude at the end of the 2015 spring semester.
Yates said the level of nicotine dosage within an e-cigarette can be controlled by the user to deliver either a heavy dose of nicotine to none at all. She also said FDA studies have shown advertisements about nicotine levels in e-cigarettes are not always accurate.
“Nicotine is an addictive drug and it is highly poisonous. E-cigarettes are not regulated by the FDA so there is really no 100 percent way to know what is in them,” Yates said.
The CDC press release reads, “The FDA currently has control over the regulation of cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco. The FDA is finalizing rules to bring e-cigarettes, hookahs and other alternative tobacco products under the same authority as traditional products.
The press release also read, “Several states have passed laws establishing a minimum age for purchase of e-cigarettes or extending smoke-free laws to include e-cigarettes, both of which could help further prevent youth use and initiation.”
Mitch Zeller, director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said the increase in youth’s use of novel products, like the e-cigarette, forces the FDA to confront the fact that much of the progress made toward reducing youth cigarette smoking rates is threatened by the e-cigarette.
“These staggering increases in such a short time underscore why FDA intends to regulate these additional products to protect public health,” Zeller said in the CDC press release.
Yates said many toxins are found in different brands. One e-cigarette tested by the FDA showed positive traces of diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical commonly found in antifreeze.
“Since e-cigarettes come in a large range of flavors that are attractive to users, there is growing concern about the popularity of the e-cigarette in users,” Yates said. “The FDA has banned traditional cigarettes from using flavors, due to attractiveness of flavor, to only menthol because of the popularity of flavors influencing use in young people.”
Yates said students should be cautious when dealing with e-cigarettes and their use because they can also generate an addiction to conventional cigarettes. She said there are many other alternative methods to help quit smoking that work much better than e-cigarette smoking.
“Do not start smoking e-cigarettes because you think they are harmless. E-cigarettes may create a craving for the traditional cigarettes, and you can become addicted to nicotine just like in traditional cigarettes,” Yates said. “The contents of e-cigarettes are not regulated by the FDA so the user is not sure of what he or she is vaping.”
Yates said, “The Department of Health Education and Wellness will continue to monitor new research about e-cigarettes and present it to the MSU students.”