On the Job 

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is warning parents about the risks of e-cigarette use among children and young adults.
 
Electronic cigarettes, battery-operated devices that heat liquid nicotine and other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user, are being made to appeal to children and look like common items found in kids’ backpacks. 
 
“E-cigarettes are now likely to be found among the school supplies of an increasing number of kids. Many e-cigarette products could be easily mistaken for pens, high-lighters, or other common school supplies,” DeWine said. “We want to alert parents and protect young people.”
 
During a news conference, DeWine and Peter Shields, M.D., of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute displayed the devices in kid-enticing designs and showed nicotine liquid packaged to look like candy.
 
Dr. Shields warned parents that e-cigarette use by youngsters has skyrocketed.
 
According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, e-cigarette use among high-school students increased about 800 percent from 2011 to 2014.
 
“We know that tobacco addiction often begins in youth — nine out of 10 adult smokers in Ohio began smoking before age 18,” Shields said.
 
DeWine has a long record of protecting Ohio children from tobacco use. As a U.S. Senator, he sponsored legislation granting the FDA authority over the marketing of tobacco products to kids. As Ohio Attorney General, he supported legislation in the Ohio General Assembly to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to those younger than 18, a measure Gov. John Kasich signed into law in 2014.