A trade group representing the fast-growing electronic cigarette industry is contesting a new government study that claims the largely unregulated products lead teens on a path to tobacco cigarette smoking.
The American Vaping Association blasted this week’s study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), describing the assertion as “plain deceptive” and calling for the paper’s retraction.
{mosads}The industry posits that e-cigarettes can actually help smokers quit, though they are prohibited from marketing the devices as a cessation tool.
“There is no evidence e-cigarettes are gateways to smoking, and in fact, for millions of Americans they are anti-tobacco protects,” said Gregory Conley, the association’s president.
The CDC report, issued earlier this week, found that more than 263,000 young people chose e-cigarettes when smoking for the first time last year, a threefold increase from 2011.
The vaping group, however, takes exception with the CDC’s assertion that young people who use e-cigarettes are twice as likely to say they’re inclined to try conventional cigarettes than those who don’t.
An analysis of the study concluded that teens who said they would “probably not” try cigarettes were counted as likely future smokers, the association said.
“Even worse, the CDC failed to disclose this in its press release, which led to hundreds of news sources identifying e-cigarettes as a gateway to cigarettes, Conley said.