ACP joined several leading medical organizations representing 630,000 physicians across the country, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Medical Association in support of E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General, the first comprehensive federal government review of the public health impact of e-cigarettes on youth and young adults in the United States.
The report recognizes the growing threat e-cigarettes pose to health and development across the lifespan and offers pragmatic recommendations to address it. The report indicates that while adolescent use of tobacco has declined since the 1970s, tobacco use continues to be a major health threat to young people and adults, and e-cigarettes are threatening to addict a new generation to nicotine.
ACP urges physicians to counsel parents and caregivers on the dangers of tobacco use and to discuss the risks associated with the liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes.