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The latest study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on electronic cigarette use is being used yet again to raise alarms. The study finds that use of electronic cigarettes among non-smoking teens roughly tripled from 2011 to 2013.

In 2011, CDC research suggested that about 79,000 non-smoking teens had tried electronic cigarettes that year. As of 2013, that statistic increased to 263,000 — more than triple the 2011 figure. The research also found that 90% of non-smoking teens had been exposed to some degree of electronic cigarette marketing. All this is being used to argue that e-cigs are ensnaring teens.

You can read more on the CDC’s research here.

There’s a few issues with these number being used to raise alarms. For starters, use of electronic cigarettes by teens has yet to be proven to be a concerning trend for any reason. In fact, it seems possible that e-cig use by teens could be a good thing if it helps eradicate smoking.

Research suggests that nicotine consumed not through smoking is not nearly as addictive. Some experts have even suggested that a lifetime of nicotine use can occur without significant harm to the user (similar to using caffeine in coffee). In almost all coverage of the numbers, e-cigs being a bad thing is taken as a given.

Beyond that, these numbers do little to show anything other than that teens who might otherwise be smoking are using electronic cigarettes. Some of the numbers even support the idea that e-cigs might be replacing cigarette use.

Of those teens that had never smoked but did try e-cigs, 43.9% indicated interest in smoking. Of teens who had never tried e-cigs or smoking, only 21.5% showed interest in smoking. This means that e-cigs might be beating out conventional cigarettes and keeping young adults from becoming lifelong smokers.