The American Heart Association (AHA) calls for stricter rules banning smoking electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes indoors as well as on its advertising and selling to minors.
The American Heart Association released a policy statement saying that "electronic cigarettes should be subject to the same laws that apply to tobacco products, and the federal government should ban the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes to young people."
AHA also said that a more thorough and continuous research is needed on the use of electronic cigarettes, advertising and its long-term effects on health.
In a news release posted on the association's website, Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association said that over the last five decades, 20 million Americans have died due to tobacco.
"We are fiercely committed to preventing the tobacco industry from addicting another generation of smokers," she said.
Brown also stated that recent studies have shown that e-cigarettes "may be a gateway to traditional tobacco products for the nation's youth, and could re-normalize smoking in our society." Thus, the AHA recommended that e-cigarettes should be "strongly regulated, thoroughly researched and closely monitored."
Meanwhile, Aruni Bhatnagar, chairperson of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Louisville and author of the statement said that e-cigarettes have indeed caused a major change in the "tobacco-control landscape."
"It's critical that we rigorously examine the long-term impact of this new technology on public health, cardiovascular disease and stroke, and pay careful attention to the effect of e-cigarettes on adolescents," he said.
According to the AHA, a recent study have shown that due to a rise in advertising, about 24 million youth are now exposed to e-cigarettes.
The AHA also in its statement said that while other research have suggested that e-cigarettes can be as or more effective than nicotine patches in helping smokers quit the habit, there is no sufficient evidence that this is true.
AHA President Dr. Elliott Antman reiterated the danger of nicotine, in whatever form it takes.
"Every life that has been lost to tobacco addiction could have been prevented," he said.
"We must protect future generations from any potential smokescreens in the tobacco product landscape that will cause us to lose precious ground in the fight to make our nation 100 percent tobacco-free."
