Alarming Rise in E-cigarette Use among Dutch Youth

03 Oct 2023 at 20:47

More than one in five young people smoke an electronic cigarette. This means that almost as many young people vape as smoke a regular cigarette. The number of twelve to seventeen year olds vaping is also remarkably large, according to the Trimbos addiction institute.

The figures “are alarming”, says the Trimbos Institute, which is launching one this year for the first time Youth monitor of tobacco and nicotine products published. For the study, I&O Research asked 4,732 Dutch people aged 12 to 25 about their tobacco and nicotine use in March.

Of Dutch youth and young adults (12 to 25 years old), 21.7 percent have used an e-cigarette in the past year. Nearly a third (27.4 percent) smoked ‘regular’ cigarettes.

In addition, 69.1 percent of young people who use an e-cigarette monthly also say they smoke regular cigarettes every month.

The fact that a large proportion of young people who vape also smoke “is worrying”, says doctor-epidemiologist Esther Croes on the Trimbos website. “We have never seen that so clearly in Dutch figures before.”

In addition, the young age of vapers is striking. 10.2 percent of twelve to fourteen year olds said they have used an e-cigarette. For fifteen to seventeen year olds the figure is 23.3 percent.

Vaping is no better than smoking

Vaping may seem more harmless than ‘regular smoking’, but it is not. “For example, current vapes often contain nicotine salt,” Croes explains.

“That is a form of nicotine that is not sharp in the throat and reaches the brain very quickly.” In this way, she says, young teenagers “quickly and unknowingly become addicted to nicotine.”

Nicotine is especially bad for teenagers because it disrupts brain development. This puts them at extra risk of permanent damage and mental problems for the rest of their lives – such as concentration problems and depression.

Croes is part of a collective of doctors who are concerned about nicotine addiction among young people. Under the name Doctors Sound the Alarm, she is committed to a smoke-free society.

“One e-cigarette (vape) can contain more nicotine than an entire pack of cigarettes,” the activist doctors’ club warns.

Also attention to snus

In the Youth monitor attention is also paid to the nicotine pouches called snus. The sale of these is prohibited in the Netherlands if they contain more than 0.035 milligrams of nicotine per bag. But these types of bags are still in circulation.

4.3 percent of young people have used snus in the past year. “For a product that is banned, this percentage is exceptionally high,” says Croes.

2023-10-03 18:47:15
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