National Youth Tobacco Survey Shows Increase Among E-Cig Use In Teens

The 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey was given to 22,000 students, showing that e-cigarette use among high school students has severely increased from 4.5 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent in 2014. The rate more than tripled from 1.1 percent to 3.9 percent for middle school-aged kids over the same period.

Hookah also came in second as the most popular tobacco product among the demographic, with the age group increasing from 5.2 percent to 9.4 percent.

"There are now 2.5 million kids using e-cigarettes and 1.5 million using hookah," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a briefing Thursday. "It's important that everyone, parents and kids, understand that nicotine is dangerous for kids at any age, whether it's an e-cigarette, hookah, cigarette, or a cigar. In fact, these trends are particularly worrisome because human brain development is still in progress in these years," Frieden said.

It was also found that tobacco use among high schoolers climbed from about 22.9 percent to 24.6 percent.

The results are particularly troublesome as there may be a new marketing front on the rise, despite the fact that traditional cigarette ads have not been allowed on television since 1971.

"Marketing is about sex, flavors, free samples," he added, via U.S. News and World Report. "Although cigarette ads ... haven't been on TV since 1971, kids are now seeing e-cigarettes on TV ... including themes of glamour, rebellion, celebrity, sports, music events, candy and fruit flavors."

Anti-smoking advocates are also using the results to call on the FDA to finally starts regulating e-cigarettes.

"In today's rapidly evolving tobacco marketplace, the surge in youth use of novel products like e-cigarettes forces us to confront the reality that the progress we have made in reducing youth cigarette smoking rates is being threatened," Mitch Zeller, J.D., director of FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement. "These staggering increases in such a short time underscore why FDA intends to regulate these additional products to protect public health."