The surging popularity of electronic cigarettes among teenagers risks making them an alarming new gateway to addiction. The Food and Drug Administration and other regulators need to catch up with these battery powered nicotine-delivery devices to evaluate their long term consequences.
Some companies selling the devices are using tactics from the bad old days of unfettered cigarette marketing. They’re pushing e-cigarettes with kid-magnet flavors such as bubble gum, cherry and cotton candy.
The proportion of students who reported having used e-cigarettes last year doubled from 2011 to 10 percent for high school students. Teens who start with e-cigarettes may and up addicted to conventional cigarettes.
— Newsday (N.Y.)
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