It may seem like smoking has made a comeback in popular culture, but Penn experts say combustible tobacco use remains low among adults in the United States.<\/p>\n
Previously, research has indicated that youth exposure to tobacco-related content on social media is associated with greater susceptibility to using cigarettes. In interviews, Penn professors said that studying the issue is complicated by limitations in data availability and discussed concerns over the negative health impacts of nicotine and tobacco products.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerception and data often are out of sync,\u201d Psychiatry professor James Loughead said. \u201cThe best data that we have doesn\u2019t show an uptick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loughead said though he has received anecdotal reports that smoking \u201cis back in vogue,\u201d there are no scientific reports to confirm a meaningful statistical increase across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cData always lags behind what\u2019s actually happening on the street,\u201d he acknowledged.<\/p>\n
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Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n Psychiatry professor Robert Schnoll, who also serves as the Abramson Cancer Center\u2019s associate director for population science, echoed a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n \u201cOur surveillance tools are limited,\u201d Schnoll said. \u201cThere\u2019s often a delay of upwards of 12 to 18 months.\u201d<\/p>\n Based on the most recent data, \u201cthe use of combustible tobacco is continuing to go down across almost every group in the United States,\u201d according to Schnoll.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve never seen the U.S. rate of adult use lower than 10%, and it\u2019s 9.9% now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Schnoll said, however, that \u201cdata suggests that the greater the number of depictions of tobacco use in media, the more likely it is that people will smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2021, a study sampling over 5,000 U.S. youths showed<\/a> that those exposed to tobacco-related content by celebrities or influencers were 30% more likely to be susceptible to smoking. According to a different study<\/a> published this year, \u201clong-established tobacco industry marketing strategies\u201d have \u201chistorically used third-party endorsements and leveraged sex appeal and social status to promote cigarettes to young people.\u201d<\/p>\n In May, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and its coalition partners sent a letter<\/a> to Vanity Fair\u2019s global editorial director, expressing \u201cdisappointment\u201d with a magazine cover photo depicting media personality Kylie Jenner lighting a cigarette.<\/p>\n \u201cInfluential media like yours should not glamorize a product that remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States,\u201d the letter read. \u201cWith nearly 90% of adult daily smokers using their first cigarette by the age of 18, ensuring that young people never start using tobacco or nicotine to begin with remains essential.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is this recent shift toward analog marketing,\u201d Director of the Biobehavioral Smoking Laboratory Andrew Strasser said. The \u201cpush\u201d toward returning to objects that are \u201cless wired\u201d and \u201celectronic\u201d could be a part of why combustible tobacco is more appealing to young adults, he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think if the tobacco companies see an opportunity, they\u2019ll wedge in there and try to market cigarettes as an analog way of acquiring nicotine,\u201d Strasser added.<\/p>\n According to Schnoll, \u201cthe typical reason for why young kids smoke is certainly seeing characters in film and people around them\u201d smoke.<\/p>\n When young adults do begin smoking, Loughead said, the numbers of quitting and relapse are \u201cterrible.”\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at unaided quitting \u2014 and most people quit unaided, cold turkey \u2014 there\u2019s maybe, optimistically, a 5% success rate one year later,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Loughead also expressed concern about whether \u201cdata will continue to be available\u201d due to the elimination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s Office of Smoking and Health.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had the tools to understand what\u2019s happening in youth smoking, but, surprise, a lot of this has been cut,\u201d he said. \u201cNow there\u2019s litigation about whether the reallocated funding is being used to restart and rehire. My understanding is that the office is still closed.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s Center for Tobacco Products, Schnoll said was \u201cunder the influence of this current administration,\u201d and making decisions that \u201cmay not be evidence-based.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is true that nicotine pouches have been approved as a harm reduction tool,\u201d he said, referring to the FDA\u2019s list<\/a> of Modified Risk Tobacco Products. \u201cI\u2019m not so sure I agree with that perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n Schnoll clarified that while he sees non-combustible alternatives as a \u201cuseful tool for cessation among adult combustible tobacco users,\u201d they can also be \u201can easy way of facilitating addiction to young adults in a way that we hadn\u2019t seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n For the time being, he added, he is \u201cmuch more worried\u201d about electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches than he is about combustible tobacco use.<\/p>\n \u201cThe product sales for Zyn have exploded maybe 20- or 30-fold in the last couple of years,\u201d Schnoll said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Senior reporter Addison Saji leads coverage of science and health and can be reached at saji@thedp.com<\/a>. At Penn, she studies English. 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