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E-cigarettes

70% of teens have seen ads for e-cigarettes

Liz Szabo
USA TODAY
Rhiannon Griffith-Bowman smokes an e-eigarette at Digital Ciggz on January 28, 2015 in San Rafael, Calif.

Seventy percent of teens have seen e-cigarette ads, putting them at high risk for trying the products, which are increasingly popular with young people, a new study found.

Tobacco companies are not legally allowed to advertise on TV, and cigarette ads in magazines must include prominent warnings about the dangers of smoking. There are no such rules for e-cigarettes. The Food and Drug Administration proposed regulations for e-cigarettes nearly two years ago, but it has not yet issued final rules.

"The same advertising tactics the tobacco industry used years ago to get kids addicted to nicotine are now being used to entice a new generation of young people to use e-cigarettes,” said Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Spending on e-cigarette ads rose from $6.4 million in 2011 to an estimated $115 million in 2014, according to the CDC, which issued the report Tuesday.

More teens now use e-cigarettes than conventional cigarettes, the CDC says. About 16% of high school senior have smoked an e-cigarette in the past month, compared with 11.4% who have smoked a conventional cigarette, according to the 2015 Monitoring the Future Study from the University of Michigan.

At least 48 states already ban sales of e-cigarettes to minors, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Research shows that teens can easily buy the products online or get them from older friends.

E-cigarette marketing uses themes that appeal to young people, such as independence, rebellion and sex, according to the CDC report. Kids see e-cigarette ads in stores, online, on TV, in movies and in newspapers and magazines, according to the report, which is based on the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey.

Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which can be particularly harmful to young brains, according to the CDC. Many health experts worry that teens could become addicted to the nicotine in e-cigarettes, making them more likely to use conventional tobacco products in the future.

But many former smokers also say that e-cigarettes helped them quit using tobacco and switch to a less harmful product.

The U.S. could take several steps to limit the use of e-cigarettes among young people, according to the CDC, including banning online sales of e-cigarettes and limiting their sales to places where teens aren't allowed, such as bars.

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