E-cigarettes are major threat to young people’s health, says US surgeon general

Use of electronic cigarettes has become a major health threat to US youth and young adults, the country’s surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, has warned, and he has called for tougher policies and regulations to discourage their use by young people.

In a new report, Murthy says that “vaping” devices have become increasingly popular among the young in the US.1 In 2015, one in six middle and high school students reported having used e-cigarettes in the past month, and a quarter reported having tried e-cigarettes, making them now the most commonly used form of tobacco among US young people.

Supporters of e-cigarettes argue that, because the aerosols they generate do not contain many of …