Titled, “Association between the implementation of tobacco control policies and adolescent vaping in 44 lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries,” a new study published in the scientific journal Addiction, found that while 8.6% of adolescents surveyed reported using e-cigarettes (vaping) in the past 30 days, only 1.7% did so regularly.
Analysing data from 151,960 adolescents in 47 countries who participated in the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Global Youth Tobacco Survey between 2015 and 2018, the research team concluded that most teens are actually experimenting with the products rather than forming a habit and subsequent addiction.
Vaping benefits overshadowed by teen vaping concerns
Meanwhile, an article published in the American Journal of Public Health authored by Kenneth Warner, dean emeritus and the Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, and 14 other past presidents of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, highlighted how the potential benefits of vaping are being overshadowed by all the panic surrounding the potential risks of teen vaping.
“Because evidence indicates that e-cigarette use can increase the odds of quitting smoking, many scientists, including this essay’s authors, encourage the health community, media, and policymakers to more carefully weigh vaping’s potential to reduce adult smoking-attributable mortality,” reads the article.
The authors reviewed the health risks of e-cigarettes, their potential for smoking cessation and addressed the concerns about youth vaping. Taking all this into consideration they then highlighted the need to balance any valid concerns regarding teen vaping and the products’ potential benefits for adult smoking cessation.