CDC SAYS USE OF E-CIGARETTES TRIPLES AMONG MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

FROM:  U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

E-cigarette use triples among middle and high school students in just one year
Current e-cigarette use among middle and high school students tripled from 2013 to 2014, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) in today’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Findings from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey show that current e-cigarette use (use on at least 1 day in the past 30 days) among high school students increased from 4.5 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent in 2014, rising from approximately 660,000 to 2 million students. Among middle school students, current e-cigarette use more than tripled from 1.1 percent in 2013 to 3.9 percent in 2014—an increase from approximately 120,000 to 450,000 students.

This is the first time since the survey started collecting data on e-cigarettes in 2011 that current e-cigarette use has surpassed current use of every other tobacco product overall, including conventional cigarettes. E-cigarettes were the most used tobacco product for non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic other race while cigars were the most commonly used product among non-Hispanic blacks.

“We want parents to know that nicotine is dangerous for kids at any age, whether it’s an e-cigarette, hookah, cigarette or cigar,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Adolescence is a critical time for brain development. Nicotine exposure at a young age may cause lasting harm to brain development, promote addiction, and lead to sustained tobacco use.”

Hookah smoking roughly doubled for middle and high school students, while cigarette use declined among high school students and remained unchanged for middle school students. Among high school students, current hookah use rose from 5.2 percent in 2013 (about 770,000 students) to 9.4 percent in 2014 (about 1.3 million students). Among middle school students, current hookah use rose from 1.1 percent in 2013 (120,000 students) to 2.5 percent in 2014 (280,000 students).

The increases in e-cigarette and hookah use offset declines in use of more traditional products such as cigarettes and cigars. There was no decline in overall tobacco use between 2011 and 2014. Overall rates of any tobacco product use were 24.6 percent for high school students and 7.7 percent for middle school students in 2014.

In 2014, the products most commonly used by high school students were e-cigarettes (13.4 percent), hookah (9.4 percent), cigarettes (9.2 percent), cigars (8.2 percent), smokeless tobacco (5.5 percent), snus (1.9 percent) and pipes (1.5 percent).  Use of multiple tobacco products was common; nearly half of all middle and high school students who were current tobacco users used two or more types of tobacco products. The products most commonly used by middle school students were e-cigarettes (3.9 percent), hookah (2.5 percent), cigarettes (2.5 percent), cigars (1.9 percent), smokeless tobacco (1.6 percent), and pipes (0.6 percent).

Cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco are currently subject to FDA’s tobacco control authority. The agency currently is finalizing the rule to bring additional tobacco products such as e-cigarettes, hookahs and some or all cigars under that same authority. Several states have passed laws establishing a minimum age for purchase of e-cigarettes or extending smoke-free laws to include e-cigarettes, both of which could help further prevent youth use and initiation.

“In today’s rapidly evolving tobacco marketplace, the surge in youth use of novel products like e-cigarettes forces us to confront the reality that the progress we have made in reducing youth cigarette smoking rates is being threatened,” said Mitch Zeller, J.D., director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “These staggering increases in such a short time underscore why FDA intends to regulate these additional products to protect public health.”

Today’s report concludes that further reducing youth tobacco use and initiation is achievable through regulation of the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products coupled with proven strategies. These strategies included funding tobacco control programs at CDC-recommended levels, increasing prices of tobacco products, implementing and enforcing comprehensive smoke-free laws, and sustaining hard-hitting media campaigns. The report also concludes that because the use of e-cigarettes and hookahs is on the rise among high and middle school students, it is critical that comprehensive tobacco control and prevention strategies for youth focus on all tobacco products, and not just cigarettes.

The National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) is a school-based, self-administered questionnaire given annually to middle and high-school students in both public and private schools. NYTS, which surveyed 22,000 students in 2014, is a nationally representative survey.

The 2012 Surgeon General’s Report found that about 90 percent of all smokers first tried cigarettes as teens; and that about three of every four teen smokers continue into adulthood.

DEFENSE SECRETARY CARTER VISITS HIS FORMER HIGH SCHOOL IN ABINGTON, PA

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Defense Secretary Ash Carter delivers remarks to students at his high school alma mater, Abington Senior High School in Abington, Pa., March 30, 2015. Carter spoke about building "the force of the future" and what the Defense Department must do to maintain its superiority well into the 21st century. DoD screen shot.
 
Carter: New Generation is Future of National Security
By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2015 – On the first day of a two-day domestic trip, Defense Secretary Ash Carter today visited the high school he attended in Abington, Pennsylvania, to speak with students whose generation, he said, represents the future of national security.

Carter -- Abington class of 1972 -- got a standing ovation as he took the podium. After he spoke and answered a round of questions from students in the packed high school auditorium, they stood, clapped and cheered as he thanked them for their attention.

On his first domestic trip as defense secretary, Carter is also scheduled to visit Fort Drum in Jefferson County, New York -- home of the 10th Mountain Division. There, he plans to meet with troops who recently served in Afghanistan.

Before traveling back to Washington, the secretary will stop at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, to discuss the department’s commitment to building what he calls the “force of the future.”

Joining the Military

In his remarks, Carter referenced the 150-plus Abington graduates who had joined the military before and after attending college since 2000.
The secretary mentioned of some of his favorite high school teachers and coaches, some of whom were in the audience. He also named Lt. Matt Capps, a Navy helicopter pilot and 2000 graduate, whose mother Carole, a school employee, was in the audience.

“Movies like ‘American Sniper,’ video games like ‘Call of Duty’ and TV commercials with troops coming home are most likely where you see our military in your everyday lives, unless you have a family member or friend who is serving,” Carter said. Those images are somewhat true, he added, but they’re only part of what the 2.3 million men and women in uniform do every day in their jobs and in their lives.

The Future of National Security

“I wanted to come here today because your generation represents the future of our country and the future of our national security,” Carter told his audience.
“We now have the finest fighting force the world has ever known,” he said to applause, “and they’re not just defending our country against terrorists in such places as Afghanistan and Syria and Iraq -- they’re helping defend cyberspace, too.”

Service members work with cutting-edge technologies such as robotics and in fields such as biomedical engineering, the secretary said.

When disaster strikes, military forces deliver aid all over the world, he added, from the 2011 nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan to super storm Sandy in the United States. And they mobilized to Africa to save thousands of lives, helping to keep the deadly Ebola virus disease from spreading around the world.
Evolving Military Missions

“Our country’s military missions continue to evolve rapidly as our world changes and technology continues to revolutionize everything we do,” Carter said, “and … the institution I lead, the Department of Defense, must keep pace with that change as well to keep our nation secure.”

The secretary told the students that some people join the service right after high school and pursue a college education over time while serving. Some in college participate in the ROTC, a college-based program for training commissioned officers.

“In all cases, college and higher learning are encouraged, because we need our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to be the best and the brightest this country has to offer,” Carter said.

Nearly 40 percent of military officers come from ROTC programs at colleges and universities, he added, noting that the services send many members to top-notch graduate programs, such as civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, medical school at Stanford University, and business school at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
The New GI Bill

Everyone who serves, Carter added, can get college benefits through the GI Bill –- now called the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 -- which over the past five and a half years has helped more than 1.3 million Americans pay for college.

“You don’t have to join the military to serve your country –- I didn’t,” Carter said. “But Matt and all those other Abington graduates are the foundation of our future force.”

The future force has other pieces too, he added, such as having the best technology and the best planes, ships and tanks. “But it all starts and ends with our people,” he added. “If we can’t continue to attract, inspire and excite talented young Americans like you, then nothing else will matter.”

To help build the future force, the department must be able to attract young people and put the current generation’s command of technology to work for the nation, the secretary said.

Building the Future Force

Carter mentioned the kind of data-driven technology that allows Netflix to suggest movies and TV shows, Twitter to suggest who to follow and Facebook to suggest who to add as a friend. He said the same technology could be applied to chart how people are doing every day in all aspects of their jobs.

“We also need to use 21st-century technologies –- similar to LinkedIn and Monster.com –- to help develop 21st-century leaders and give our people even more flexibility and choice in deciding their next job when they’re in the military,” he added.

The department has internships, fellowships and pilot programs that allow people to pause their military service for a few years while they get a degree, learn a new skill or start a family, the secretary said, but he added that such programs are still small.

“These programs are good for us and our people, because they help people bring new skills and talents from outside back into the military,” Carter said. “So we need to look not only at ways we can improve and expand those programs, but also think about completely new ideas to help our people gain new skills and experiences.”

Equal Opportunity, Better World

Carter said the department also plans to keep making sure that anyone who is able and willing to serve their country has a full and equal opportunity to do so, drawing talent from a range of gender, racial, religious, cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds.

“Whether you’re a man or woman, gay, lesbian or straight -- no matter what walk of life your family comes from -– we’ll make sure you’re treated with dignity and respect,” Carter told them.

The secretary said the services will be competing hard around the country for talent like that represented by the students at Abington.

“I know that not everyone here is thinking about military service, and that’s okay,” he said. “If you’re like I was and you’re still interested in serving your country and making a better world, we need to be ready to help with ways you can serve as a civilian. Right now that’s not something our local recruiters offer, but we have to rethink that.”

The department wants people to consider military and public service because, “when it comes to working in national security, no matter what you do –- military or civilian –- you will be better off for having been a part of this incredible mission,” Carter said. “Whether it’s the people, the skills or the experiences, nothing else compares. I guarantee it.”

CDC REPORTS E-CIGARETTE USE BY HIGH SCHOOL, MIDDLE SCHOOL KIDS MORE THAN DOUBLES

FROM:  CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION 
Press Release E-cigarette use more than doubles among U.S. middle and high school students from 2011-2012
More than 75 percent of youth users smoke conventional cigarettes too

The percentage of U.S. middle and high school students who use electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, in today’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, show that the percentage of high school students who reported ever using an e-cigarette rose from 4.7 percent in 2011 to 10.0 percent in 2012. In the same time period, high school students using e-cigarettes within the past 30 days rose from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent. Use also doubled among middle school students. Altogether, in 2012 more than 1.78 million middle and high school students nationwide had tried e-cigarettes.

"The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling," said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes."

The study also found that 76.3 percent of middle and high school students who used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days also smoked conventional cigarettes in the same period. In addition, 1 in 5 middle school students who reported ever using e-cigarettes say they have never tried conventional cigarettes. This raises concern that there may be young people for whom e-cigarettes could be an entry point to use of conventional tobacco products, including cigarettes.

“About 90 percent of all smokers begin smoking as teenagers,” said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of the CDC Office on Smoking and Health. “We must keep our youth from experimenting or using any tobacco product. These dramatic increases suggest that developing strategies to prevent marketing, sales, and use of e-cigarettes among youth is critical.”

SEC. OF LABOR SOLIS ANNOUNCES $75.7 MILLION IN YOUTHBUILD GRANTS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announces $75.7 million in YouthBuild grants for programs nationwide
74 programs across 28 states and the District of Columbia receive funding
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced more than $75 million in YouthBuild grants to help out-of-school youth earn a high school or General Educational Development diploma while learning critical occupational skills in construction, health care, information technology and other fields.

"YouthBuild offers young people the opportunity to earn academic and industry-recognized credentials, practice the skills they'll need to succeed at work, and experience what it means to contribute to their own success and that of their communities," said Secretary Solis.

The grants range from $700,000 to $1.1 million each and together will fund 74 YouthBuild programs in 28 states and the District of Columbia. They will help nearly 5,000 young people obtain the certifications and skills necessary to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Including today's grantees, the Labor Department now actively funds 127 YouthBuild programs around the country.

The YouthBuild grants announced today are the first awarded under new program regulations published in February 2012, which expand occupational skills training beyond construction to include fast-growing industries such as health care and information technology. The construction skills training programs funded teach valuable skills to participants who build or rehabilitate housing for low-income or homeless individuals and families in their communities. The non-construction skills training programs funded include leadership development and community service elements to ensure that youth maintain a connection to their communities through service and volunteerism.

YouthBuild is a nonresidential, community-based alternative education program that provides classroom instruction and occupational skills training to at-risk individuals ages 16-24. Many participants have been in the juvenile justice system, are aging out of foster care, have dropped out of high school, or are otherwise at-risk of failing to reach key educational milestones and opportunities that lead to career fulfillment.