A large Canadian study of 44-thousand high-school students in Ontario and Alberta has found that teenagers who use electronic cigarettes are at great risk of graduating to tobacco smoking.
The study, led by public-health professor David Hammond at the University of Waterloo, says young people who had used e-cigarettes were significantly more likely to start smoking a year later.
He cites a "strong and robust" linkage between so-called "vaping'' and subsequent tobacco use, and suspects teens may be trying e-cigarettes before smoking because they're easier to obtain than tobacco.
The study is published in today's Canadian Medical Association Journal.