Two separate studies show a real jump in the number of teens using e-cigarettes. The findings are raising concerns that the devices may hook young people on nicotine at a time when cigarette use continues to fall. One study shows about 25-percent of high schoolers in Connecticut have used e-cigarettes. A similar study done in Hawaii shows nearly 30-percent of teens in that state have used the devices. By comparison, the latest figures from the CDC show only about five-percent of American teens have used e-cigarettes.
The Food and Drug Administration has proposed regulating e-cigarettes and other tobacco products, but has not yet issued a final rule on the matter. And while 40 states prohibit selling e-cigarettes to minors, that still leaves 16-million U.S. kids under age 18 who can buy them legally.