As US worries grow over teens smoking e-cigs, Britain presses on with first TV smoking ad

The concerns come as a commercial showing a woman smoking a VIP e-cigarette has been shown for the first time this week on TV in Britain.

It was the first ad on TV in almost 50 years showing someone exhaling what appears to be smoke. It was broadcast after strict rules on the advertising of e-cigs were relaxed, the US magazine AdAge reported.

VIP was first to take advantage of the new rules, which now allow advertisers to show the product, as well as to show people in the act of vaping.

The percentage of US high-school students using an e-cigarette within the last 30 days jumped to 4.5 per cent in a 2013 CDC survey, up from 2.8 per cent in 2012. The rate among middle-school students was flat at 1.1 per cent.

The percentage of high-school students who had ever tried e-cigs for the first time rose to nearly 12per cent from 10per cent. Among middle-school students it rose to 3 per cent from 2.7 per cent.

The findings come from the CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey, a questionnaire given annually to roughly 20,000 students.

The good news is that cigarette and cigar use among the age groups declined slightly, according to the study. Overall tobacco use among youth was roughly flat compared with last year at around 23 per cent for high-school students and 6.5 per cent for middle school students.

The US Food and Drug Administration is currently working on rules that would possibly ban sales of the devices, which turn nicotine-laced liquid into vapour, to anyone under 18.

The FDA is reviewing public comments before finalising rules. The FDA didn’t propose banning Internet sales, limiting flavors or restricting ads.

Though e-cigarettes deliver nicotine, which is addictive, most researchers say they are less harmful than traditional cigarettes because they don’t release toxins through combustion like traditional cigarettes.

E-cigarette advocates say vapor devices, whose US sales are estimated to reach $2.5bn this year, help smokers quit traditional cigarettes. But public-health officials remain concerned about the effect e-cigarettes could have on youth.

The 2014 US Surgeon General’s report found that nicotine can hurt developing adolescent brains.

Brian King, an epidemiologist with the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said, “Electronic products are not risk free because they contain nicotine, and we know it’s dangerous.”

Dr. King said the increase in the use of e-cigarettes “isn’t particularly surprising” because the products are advertised on TV and come in kid-friendly flavours like chocolate and cherry. Unlike cigarettes, they also can be smoked indoors in public places in most states, which can make their use seem normal to young people.

Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement cited by AdAge that the latest surveys on youth tobacco, including e-cigarettes, “is a concern. Any use of a tobacco or a nicotine-containing product by young people is detrimental to public health.”

Six US senators last month urged the FDA it to put stronger warning labels on e-cigarettes. The six previously introduced legislation that would ban marketing e-cigarettes to minors.

E-cigarette makers say they don’t target youth in their marketing. E-cigarette makers like Blu, which is owned by Lorillard, Inc., limit their advertising to adult-focused programming on cable TV.

Reynolds American , which is rolling out its e-cigarette Vuse, requires retailers keep it behind the counter and limit sales to adults.

In Britain e-cigarette brands are spending on advertising now because, earlier this year, the EU passed new rules that starting in 2016 will re-classify e-cigarettes as "tobacco-related products." They will be subject to the same advertising ban as regular cigarettes and will be required to display graphic health warnings.

Meantime under the new"less strict" rules the current ads must not appeal to under-18s.