Youth e-cigarette use data questioned

The U.S. National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) has said that the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) study about youth use of electronic cigarettes raises too many unanswered questions for the data to be used as a basis for proposing significant restrictions on electronic cigarettes.

“It appears the CDC and the FDA are extrapolating data from the 2011 and 2012 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS) to support the FDA’s announced plan to expand its authority over other tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, by issuing proposed regulations this October,” said NATO Executive Director Thomas Briant.

“Studies have found e-cigarettes to be effective in reducing cigarette smoking or aiding smokers in quitting. Given that e-cigarettes appear to have a positive effect in the reduction of smoking tobacco-burning cigarettes, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets can only conclude that the FDA is setting the stage for the roll out of the agency’s proposed e-cigarette regulations in two months.

“NATO and its retailers that operate more than 28,000 tobacco stores, convenience stores, service stations, grocery stores and liquor stores nationwide, firmly agree that underage youth should not use e-cigarettes. Currently, 26 states have enacted laws that prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors, and retailers are abiding by those laws and their own business practices to prevent the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors.

“The CDC’s claim that electronic cigarette use has more than doubled among middle and high school students from 2011 to 2012 is a generalization and may not be supported by the NYTS data. The NYTS statistics relied on by the CDC to estimate how many youth use electronic cigarettes include middle and high school students who currently use e-cigarettes and those who have used an e-cigarette just once. This means that the CDC’s claim that electronic cigarette use has doubled among underage youth is likely overstated since students who used the product one time may no longer be using e-cigarettes.

“For example, in the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey, only 3 percent, or 558 out of 18,262 students, responded that they have ‘ever tried’ an electronic cigarette. The question is how many of these 558 students tried an e-cigarette just once and no longer use the product? Without acknowledging that a portion of the students surveyed used an e-cigarette just one time and no longer use e-cigarettes, the CDC should not make the claim that youth use of e-cigarettes doubled from 2011 to 2012.

“Moreover, NATO has not seen the actual 2012 NYTS study itself—only the summary that has been provided by the CDC and referenced in its press release. The summary leaves some questions unanswered, such as how many students actually completed the survey in order to extrapolate the CDC’s estimate that 1.78 million students have tried e-cigarettes. According to U.S. Census numbers from 2011, there are approximately 40.8 million youth between the ages of 10 and 19 in the U.S., so the sample size of any study like the NYTS should be quite large.

“NATO does not support the sale of e-cigs to underage consumers. However, NATO members firmly stand behind the right of adults to purchase e-cigarettes, particularly when they are looking for assistance in ‘stepping down’ from smoking traditional cigarettes. We hope any future regulations proposed by the FDA will not interfere with the right of adults to choose what, at least at this time, appears to be a less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes.”