A surge in e-cigarette use is erasing past progress in reducing tobacco product use among teens, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The use of e-cigarettes is so bad that's it's being called an epidemic in the United States. About 4.9 million middle and high school students in the U-S use tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.

Robert Redfield, M.D., CDC Director says, “The skyrocketing growth of young people’s e-cigarette use over the past year threatens to erase progress made in reducing youth tobacco use. It’s putting a new generation at risk for nicotine addiction,” said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, M.D. “Despite this troubling trend, we know what works and we must continue to use proven strategies to protect America’s youth from this preventable health risk. Youth use of any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe.”

Tobacco product use among US youth is increasing. More than 1 in 4 high school students and about 1 in 14 middle school students in 2018 had used a tobacco product in the past 30 days. This was a considerable increase from 2017, which was driven by an increase in e-cigarette use. E-cigarette use increased from 11.7% to 20.8% among high school students and from 3.3% to 4.9% among middle school students from 2017 to 2018. No change was found in the use of other tobacco products, including cigarettes, during this time.

JUUL is now the most commonly sold e-cigarette in the U-S. It's shaped like a USB flash drive and is easy to conceal. The liquid nicotine refills are called "pods" and the devices are being used by teens in school. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, and nearly all tobacco use begins in adolescence.