Smoking hits a new low; teenage vaping concerns increase

About 10% of people aged 18 to 24 were smoking cigarettes in 2017, up from 13% in 2016.

This would be considered a success in public health if so many young people did not develop nicotine addiction through e-cigarettes or vaping.

The global use of nicotine shows this: About 20% of American adults used a tobacco product last year, through e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigarettes, cigars and hookahs.

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and illness in the United States and the main health issue related to tobacco.

About 16 million Americans have a smoking-related disease and about 480,000 die each year. Eliminating smoking in America would eventually eliminate about one-third of all cancer deaths, according to the National Cancer Institute.

David Ashley, a former FDA and CDC official, says the new figures suggest that "tobacco control efforts are still on the right track".

On November 1, 2018, David Ashley, former head of FDA and CDC, a professor at the School of Public Health at Georgia State University, was introduced to a panel of teenage vapers sponsored by the Truth Initiative advocacy group. On his right, Dr. Milagros "Mila" Váscones-Gatski. She is an addiction counselor for the Arlington Public Schools. On his right, Jack Waxman, a student at Cornell University, has created a group opposed to the vaping policy in his school. (Photo: Davon Harris)

However, according to federal data, smoking still has a strong hold on disadvantaged and other groups. More than 40% of adults who reported "severe psychological distress" used tobacco. About 27% of LGBTQ community members reported using tobacco.

"The persistent disparities in the prevalence of adult smoking described in this report underscore the need for further research to accelerate the reduction of tobacco use among all Americans," said Dr. Norman Sharpless, director of National Cancer Institute.

Vaping was supposed to help smokers get rid of carcinogenic tobacco and thus reduce the smoking rate. Vapers uses electronic cigarettes to inhale water vapor containing nicotine.

But the practice has also attracted an alarming number of non-smoking teenagers.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, FDA Commissioner, said preliminary data from the government showed that teenage smoking reached the "epidemic" level.

He said in September that his agency would ask major electronic cigarette manufacturers to prove that they were doing enough to protect them from children and teenagers.

He threatened to stop the sales of manufacturers who did not comply with his obligations. An announcement is expected by mid-November.

Ashley, now a professor at the School of Public Health at Georgia State University, says the data shows that over 80% of smokers who consume e-cigarettes do not use them regularly.

These smokers reject vaping and start smoking exclusively or use both traditional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, which greatly reduces benefits, says Ashley.

He says that current trends raise "serious concerns".

"The question of whether vaping will help reduce or increase smoking from the point of view of the health of the population remains to be determined," he said. "There is still much work to be done to reduce cigarette dependence and increase the effectiveness of e-cigarettes to help smokers completely change to achieve a more substantial benefit to public health."

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