Study: For teens, getting dressed can lead to smoking

A new study shows that what public health experts fear for teen vaping is true. Teens trying electronic cigarettes are more likely to smoke traditional cigarettes later, according to new research published in JAMA Network open now.

The researchers found that youth whose first tobacco product was an electronic cigarette were more likely to start using traditional tobacco products over the next two years. The authors of the study note that this is only an badociation, not necessarily a causal link, which means that they can not prove that vaping is an entry drug. But they have seen that teens who start with electronic cigarettes are more likely to start smoking.

This has been a major concern regarding spray products, including tobacco-flavored electronic cigarette capsules like Juul, which regulators say are being marketed to young people. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publishes anti-vaping ads in high schools and in 2018, it asks leading manufacturers of e-cigarettes to submit plans to reduce the teenage vape epidemic by limiting sales and marketing.

But it's a strange week for the news of e-cigarette research, like Wednesday, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine explained how electronic cigarettes can help adults quit smoking if they are addicted to traditional cigarettes. In this study, e-cigs were twice as effective as smoking cessation treatments, such as nicotine patches and gums. So, for adults already addicted to cigarettes, the electronic version can be a useful alternative. But for teenagers who have not started smoking yet? Not really.