A recent study reveals that electronic cigarettes are becoming more popular among teenagers as more than double say they have used e-cigarettes than in the previous year.
Roughly 10 percent of American high school students used e-cigarettes in 2012, compared to only 4.7 percent in 2011, while three in 100 middle-school students also reportedly tried out the new craze, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The sharp increase has public health experts worried being that e-cigarettes contain nicotine along with cancer-causing compounds called nitrosamines, according to a 2009 analysis by the Food and Drug Administration.
"The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in announcing the findings, reports USA Today. "Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes."
The federal government is expected to announce its plan to regulate these battery-powered devices as tobacco products as early as October. E-cigarettes heat a solution containing nicotine, which is derived from tobacco leaves, into a vapor that users inhale. While they don't have the myriad chemicals of regular cigarettes, they still contain a certain level of nicotine.
"We don't yet understand the long-term effects of these novel tobacco products," Mitch Zeller, director of FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement.
"This indicates that e-cigarettes could be a gateway to nicotine addiction and use of other tobacco products," says Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. He blames this upswing on slick new marketing ploys that target young people by enlisting celebrities like Jenny McCarthy, Stephen Dorff and Courtney Love in their ads.
"These ads portray e-cigarette use as an act of rebellion, much like cigarette ads have done," Myers says, adding they undercut efforts to de-glamorize smoking to kids. He also says the sweet flavors of some e-cigarettes, such as chocolate and "cherry crush," lure youth.