More than 2.5 million American children use e-cigarettes — a half-million increase from last year and a downward trend in recent years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that 2.55 million Americans in middle or high school admit to using the device in the past 30 days.
It’s a 500,000 or 24 percent jump from 2021. It’s the first increase since the CDC began collecting annual data in 2019.
A vast majority, 85 percent, report the use of flavored e-cigarette products that federal regulators have been trying to combat in recent years.
More than 14 percent of high school students and three percent of youth use the devices.
Experts warn that the use of the highly addictive devices is extremely dangerous for young people, even though they contain no tobacco.
The nicotine and other chemicals like diacetyl in the device can cause long-term damage to the lungs and expose users to the risk of conditions like COPD, studies find.
The CDC released the findings Thursday as part of the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
It represents the first year-over-year increase in e-cigarette use among U.S. youth since 2019. Just over two million reported uses in 2021.
Usage of the devices has still halved in the past three years, from 5.4 million middle and high school users in 2019.
Still, officials worry that the recent increase in the prevalence of the devices indicates a long-term problem.
“This study shows that our nation’s youth continue to be seduced and addicted to a growing variety of brands of e-cigarettes that deliver flavored nicotine,” said Dr. Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said in a statement.
‘Our work is far from over. It is crucial that we work together to prevent young people from using any tobacco product – including e-cigarettes – and to help all young people who do use them.’
The report found that 84.9 percent of those who reported regular use of the devices used flavored e-cigarette flavors.
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned fruit-flavored e-cigarettes.
To stay in the market, each company was forced to apply individually to keep their products on the shelves.
Juul Labs, whose products became the face of the dangerous underage smoking trend after gaining popularity in the 2010s, was rejected by the FDA in June.
The devices were temporarily taken off the shelves before the FDA postponed its decision to give the agency time to review more scientific evidence.
“Adolescent use of e-cigarettes in the United States remains at worrying levels and poses a serious public health risk to our nation’s youth,” said Dr. Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. , in a statement.
“Protecting our nation’s youth from the dangers of tobacco products — including e-cigarettes — remains one of the FDA’s highest priorities.”
Of the users, 27.6 percent said they puff on their e-cigarette every day. Just over 40 percent said they had used it at least 20 or more in the past 30 days.
Experts are alarmed by the prevalence of nicotine use among young people in America.
dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, director of the Tobacco Treatment Clinic at John’s Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, told DailyMail.com last month that these devices could fuel a future health crisis.
‘The lungs are still growing’ [in younger age groups],’ he explained.
“Your lungs really keep rolling until you’re about 35 years old. So introducing things that cause lung problems so early sets you up as a chronic patient.
“Maybe there’s a reversibility, if we can get them off the products, but if they keep using it, we’re looking at permanent damage that may be irreversible.”
Many are not aware of the dangers of the devices.
While e-cigarette use is not associated with cancer in the same way as cigarettes, Galiatsatos warns that other conditions such as “popcorn lung,” COPD and asthma can affect frequent vapers.
“There are lots of other scary, non-cancerous things that can happen to the lungs when you introduce harmful chemicals,” he explained.
“That should always be our concern. Right? Chronic lung diseases are a top three causes of death worldwide.’
The Biden administration has focused on flavored tobacco and nicotine for the past two years.
In addition to banning flavored vapors, the FDA also restricted the sale of menthol cigarettes earlier this year.