Young people who use e-cigarettes are very likely to move on to smoking real tobacco products. That’s the conclusion of a new study co-authored by researchers from Dartmouth’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center.
Electronic cigarettes emit vapors rather than smoke. So users say they “vape.” But vaping can mimic smoking. Vapors are usually laced with nicotine and flavors like chocolate or cherry can be added.
Research just published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics tracked 694 young people, ages 16-26. The study found that of the 16 e-cigarette users in the nationwide sample, 11 became smokers within a year. That’s about 69 percent, in contrast to about 18 percent of people who did not use e-cigarettes at the start of the study, and had become smokers a year later.
“So what this potentially tells us and what’s especially concerning is that e-cigarettes may be an accelerant to cigarette smoking among adolescents and young adults,” says Samir Soneji.
He’s one of the study’s several co-authors. Their aim was to find out whether e-cigarette users were more likely to transition to cigarette smoking than a control group. And they were.
Soneji speculates that e-cigarettes, which deliver nicotine slowly, tempt novices to try it in a user-friendly form.
“So a 17-year old kid who has never used cigarettes before might use e-cigarettes and it might allow him to become more tolerant of the side effects of nicotine using e-cigarettes and then unfortunately if addiction happens he might switch to traditional cigarettes,” he says.
Vermont and New Hampshire are among more than 40 states that ban the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under 18, but Soneji says they are still relatively easy to get, either from an older friend or a website. A starter package of vaping devices and liquids retails for around 50 dollars—but can be cheaper online. Soneji says e-cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular nationwide.
“And e-cigarettes are acceptable, right? So there aren’t clean indoor air laws in most states around e-cigarette vaping as they are for cigarette smoking. So e-cigarette smoking re-normalizes the act of cigarette smoking,” Soneji says.
He notes that young people who puff on e-cigarettes may escape detection more easily than if they light up. They may also want to look like older role models, not only when they vape, but when they switch to traditional cigarettes. That can lead to tobacco addiction.
But e-cigarettes can also help addicted adults kick their habit.
"And that's the quandary," Soneji explains, “that New Hampshire and Vermont and the federal government are in on how to regulate e-cigarettes to try and limit youth exposure—and on the other hand to try to encourage and support adults who use these cigarettes to quit. And there certainly are stories and examples and data to suggest that some adults are able to use e-cigarettes to reduce or completely quit cigarette smoking."
The Food and Drug Administration has drafted new rules restricting the sale of e-cigarettes. The proposal includes health warnings and prohibits sale to underage consumers. But it does not ban flavors children might like. So Dartmouth researchers advise parents to discuss with their kids the potential hazards of vaping, as well as smoking.
Copyright 2015 Vermont Public Radio
