Data released last week by the CDC show that smoking continues to decline among teenagers, reaching a record low last year. But as I explain in my latest Forbes column, the CDC is still worried that the rising popularity of e-cigarettes will renew adolescent interest in the real thing:

Public statements from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) take an alarmist view of e-cigarettes, portraying them as a menace to the youth of America, who supposedly will start smoking again in droves once they try vaping and get hooked on nicotine. But the CDC's data tell a different story.

Last week the CDC released the latest results from its National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (NYRBS), which is conducted every two years. The 2015 numbers show that cigarette smoking continues to fall among teenagers even as more and more of them experiment with vaping. But as usual, the CDC chose to accentuate the negative.