Contact: Katharine Glenn, kglenn@acc.org, 202-375-6472

American College of Cardiology President Patrick T. O’Gara, M.D., FACC, made the following statement regarding the 2013 National Youth Tobacco Survey findings that e-cigarettes use amongst high school students tripled from 2011 to 2013:

“It is disheartening to learn that young people are using e-cigarettes in growing numbers. E-cigarettes, and particularly flavored e-cigarettes, are marketed to young people with tactics that are misleading at best and may be a gateway to the use of traditional cigarettes and nicotine addiction. It is critical that e-cigarettes and advertising for e-cigarettes be regulated so that children, adolescents and young adults do not start using an addictive substance under the misimpression that inhaling the vapor of e-cigarettes (“vaping”) is less dangerous than using tobacco products. Dramatic reductions in deaths due to heart disease in this country in the last 30 years are due in part to the decline in cigarette smoking. We risk going backwards if a new generation of smokers become addicted to nicotine.

“These findings only further support ACC’s stance on the proposed tobacco deeming rule, which calls for the need to quickly issue a final rule that includes strict regulation of e-cigarettes and their marketing to minors.”

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