Williams Rebecca J, Knight Rebecca
Office of Public Health Studies, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (RJW).
Hawaii J Med Public Health. 2015 Feb;74(2):66-70.
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are an emerging phenomenon that is becoming increasingly popular among adolescents. Current e-cigarette use among adolescents has more than doubled in the past few years nationally and more than tripled in Hawai'i, despite the fact that safety in terms of health and injury from use is widely unknown. The use of e-cigarettes among adolescents is of particular concern because they may act as a gateway to smoking conventional tobacco cigarettes, substitute for cigarettes where smoking would normally not be allowed, and weaken the effect of clean air policies, and displace effective smoking cessation treatments. Additionally, the use of e-cigarettes may lead to the use of conventional cigarettes. There is special concern that e-cigarette companies are recruiting adolescents who would not have otherwise tried smoking by using tactics such as offering e-cigarettes in attractive flavorings and using the same successful strategies to market their product as tobacco companies have used for conventional cigarettes in past decades. It has been shown that exposure to cigarette marketing is related to initiation and progression in adolescent smoking. Yet, there remains no regulation on the marketing of e-cigarettes to adolescents. It can be extrapolated that expanded regulation that includes limits on the marketing of e-cigarettes may help decrease use among adolescents and prevent the possible increase of smoking rates.
电子烟是一种新兴现象，在青少年中越来越受欢迎。在过去几年里，全国青少年当前的电子烟使用率增加了一倍多，在夏威夷则增加了两倍多，尽管使用电子烟对健康和造成伤害方面的安全性仍广为人知。青少年使用电子烟尤其令人担忧，因为它们可能成为吸食传统烟草香烟的入口，在通常不允许吸烟的地方替代香烟，削弱清洁空气政策的效果，并取代有效的戒烟治疗方法。此外，使用电子烟可能导致吸食传统香烟。特别令人担忧的是，电子烟公司正在招募那些原本不会尝试吸烟的青少年，他们采用的策略包括提供有吸引力口味的电子烟，以及使用烟草公司在过去几十年用于传统香烟营销的同样成功的策略来推销其产品。研究表明，接触香烟营销与青少年吸烟的开始和发展有关。然而，目前仍没有对向青少年推销电子烟的相关规定。可以推断，扩大相关规定，包括限制电子烟营销，可能有助于减少青少年对电子烟的使用，并防止吸烟率可能的上升。
