ISLAMABAD: Young people who experiment with e-cigarettes are more likely to try smoking, a new study says.

Resembling USB flash drives and pens, e-cigarettes have gained popularity among the younger generation due to their designs and because they are easier to hide from parents, a study by the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicines of the US says.

The institution has been giving expert advice on some of the most pressing challenges for the last 150 years.

E-cigarettes have gained popularity due to their innovative designs and flavours, new study says

E-cigarettes are the most common examples of electronic nicotine delivery systems (Ends) and electronic non-nicotine delivery systems, which do not use or burn tobacco but instead vaporises an e-liquid to create aerosols inhaled by the user. The widely used variant of e-cigarettes is Ends which contains nicotine and can be addictive.

The authors of the study have made a disturbing discovery, which is that the participants who experimented with the nicotine based e-cigarettes soon went on to s regular cigarettes. The group is reported to have been attracted by the versatile style of e-cigarettes and eventually become addicted to nicotine and regular tobacco consumers.

A recent study in the Journal of Pakistan’s Medical Association (JPMA) says the youth in Pakistan are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the new global epidemic of e-cigarrettes as they consider it a relatively safer option.

Sustainable Environment Human Development Foundation Zahid Shafiq told Dawn the study by the American institution was troubling since there are already 25 million smokers in Pakistan and that there are concerns that the parallel use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes can increase consumption of both products.

He said e-cigarettes were introduced as the safer alternative to tobacco smoking and are reported to be 95pc less harmful.

“However, they still contain nicotine, which is still addictive. E-cigarettes come in various designs ranging from cigarettes to pens and larger products like tank systems and personal vaporisers. So, they can be frequently used by teenagers,” Mr Shafiq said.

The innovations in design and flavour have also caught the attention of non-smoking young people, which is perceived as a major threat by youth advocates from around the world. E-cigarettes are attracting a new population of adolescents who would otherwise have been a low-risk youth group, he said.

He said that in their study on e-cigarette awareness among youth, JPMA identified that the 10.1pc of the sample found e-cigarettes appealing and were using it. The increase of e-cigarettes as a trend has been associated with insufficient data available on the knowledge and use of e-cigarettes, particularly in the developing countries.

“Academics and policy-makers must gather data and should conduct research to show a causal relationship between e-cigarette experimentation by the youth and later tobacco addiction in the context of Pakistan,” Mr Shafiq said.

World Health Organization’s statistics have revealed that among Pakistani youth, 13.3pc of the boys, and 6.6pc of girls and 10.7pc of all youth currently use tobacco products and this number is constantly growing for both genders.

Technical Head of Tobacco Control Cell of Ministry of National Health Services Dr Ziauddin told Dawn that as the resistance has been continuously increasing against traditional cigarettes so tobacco companies have decided to introduce e-cigarettes which are nothing but an alternative of cigarettes and a gateway to smoking.

“Efforts are being made to make e-cigarettes a status symbol and youngsters are being encouraged to use them in fun,” he said.

“There is not much awareness of this issue in Pakistan and though our law is comprehensive and can deal with all attempts to market cigarettes, there is still a need for a massive campaign against e-cigarettes like the campaign against sheesha. We have decided to involve the civil society in order to raise awareness,” Dr Zia said.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2018