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Teenagers smoke less but steam more often e-cigarettes
On the occasion of the upcoming World No Tobacco Day next Sunday, the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) in Cologne presented a new study on Thursday. Accordingly, fewer and fewer teenagers are using conventional cigarettes. However, e-shishas and e-cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular.
Tobacco is out in adolescents, e-cigarettes and e-hookahs are in
According to the study, e-cigarettes are understood by nine out of ten adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years old. 15 percent of girls and boys in this age group have already tried it. The colorful printed e-shishas, which are available as e-cigarettes in different flavors, such as mango, strawberry or vanilla, know 73 percent. 21 percent have tried it at least once. "Since 2012, both the awareness and the testing of e-cigarettes among young people have increased. The distribution of e-hookahs has been surveyed for the first time in the current survey, so there are no comparable values here, "the BZgA announces.
In the study, a total of 7,000 young people between the ages of 12 and 25 were interviewed between May and October 2014. According to smoke 9.7 percent of 12- to 17-year-old tobacco-containing cigarettes. In 2001, it was still 27.5 percent. More than 75 percent have never smoked.
E-cigarettes and e-shishas can be an introduction to smoking tobacco
"These figures are evidence of sustainable prevention success among adolescents. The trend towards non-smoking continues unabated, "explains Dr. Heidrun Thaiss, Head of the BZgA. "Despite this gratifying development, the increasing testing of e-shishas and e-cigarettes among younger people is a matter of concern for us. In Germany, there are around 500,000 young people who have never smoked a tobacco cigarette, but have already consumed e-products. Trying out the electrical products carries the risk of getting started smoking tobacco. This is another reason why these products are not in the hands of children and adolescents. "
The Federal Government Drugs Commissioner, Marlene Mortler, also sees the trend towards e-cigarettes and e-shisha critically. "Smoking is more and more out. However, the latest data from the BZgA study also show that colorful, upbeat e-shishas and e-cigarettes are very attractive to children and adolescents and can reverse this positive trend, "says Mortler. "E-cigarettes and e-shishas are anything but harmless. The content additives, some of which are barely known, harbor great health risks. Even carcinogenic ingredients have been detected in corresponding products. "(Ag)
: Dirk Kruse