For the first time, state health officials in Iowa say electronic cigarettes have overtaken traditional tobacco cigarettes as the preference of Iowa teens. Data from the Iowa Youth Survey taken last fall finds more Iowa high school students say they’re now using e-cigarettes than those who light up. That’s not exactly good news, according to Garin Buttermore, who works to prevent youth from starting smoking.

Buttermore, a community health consultant in the Tobacco Division of the Iowa Department of Public Health, says e-cigarettes were initially marketed as a “safe” alternative to traditional cigarettes. While they were billed as a good way to quit smoking, now it appears, they may be good way to start smoking, too.

He notes, another disturbing element unveiled in the survey is that young people, as early as 6th grade, are getting a hold of e-cigarettes and using them. In the 2014 legislative session, a law was passed requiring that you be 18 to purchase e-cigarettes, the same as traditional cigarettes. Before that, he says, e-cigarettes weren’t mentioned anywhere in Iowa law.
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The survey shows 11-percent of Iowa 11th graders said they’d used e-cigarettes in the previous month, compared to 10-percent who said they’d smoked traditional cigarettes.