Teens who start vaping are nearly three times more likely to go on to smoke cigarettes than their peers who don’t use any type of tobacco product, a new study finds. The results are alarming for both medical experts — who would rather kids not smoke — and for the e-cigarette industry, which is increasingly marketing its products as smoking-cessation tools for adults.
Today’s study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, couldn’t say whether vaping caused the kids to go on to smoking. But the study authors did find some pretty strong associations between vaping and later cigarette smoking, particularly for kids who would normally be considered “low risk” for substance use: the ones that aren’t big on thrill-seeking, drinking, or...
