we heard from mitch zeller, the head of tobacco products at fda and said -- >> in today's rapidly evolvingurge in youth use of novel products like e-cigarettes forces us to confront the reality the progress we have made in reducing youth cigarette smoking rates is increasing. fda intends to regulate the additional products to protect public health. >> may be regulating them as of this summer, june. but the problem is if they just restrict the age, we will have the same problem we have now. 42 states say you can't buy this under age. kids get it online. >> the jury is out on this. i said i'm not a big fan. we still have the number of teenagers actually smokers are down from 16% to 9%. fda should have regulated this stuff long time ago and so slow to pick up this. you have carcinogenic and the behavior of nicotine is still there. this is a very cool thing out there. teenagers, they think it's making the smoke and it's a fun thing. this could be a segue to actually addiction and smoking and other things. i would be a fan of e-cigarettes to slow down the smokers out there and keep them out. i

. >> mitch zeller works for the u.s. food and drug administration. that's the government agency that regulates tobacco products. >> what we've learned is if you talk to kids about the long-term health effects of cigarette smoking -- cancer, lung disease, heart disease, addiction -- they tune it out. >> and that's why it's so important to tell teens about the immediate dangers of smoking -- things like your clothes smell you're spending all of your money, your teeth and fingers can get yellow, and you're gonna have a hard time keeping up with the other kids in sports. so, these are problems that can happen no matter how young you are. >> and that strategy seems to be working. over the past 20 years, there's been a decline in the number of teens who smoke. our mission is to get that number all the way down to zero because nothing good can come from smoking. >> it's really unhealthy for them, and they're damaging their internal system and even their external system, as well. >> they'll probably end up with lung cancer. >> i would tell them not to smoke

. >> mitch zeller works for the federal government. he says that what we do know is that e-cigarettes contain nicotine. >> no young person should be starting to use any of these products. nicotine is addictive. and nicotine can have adverse effects on brain development and the adolescent brain is still developing. our brains are not fully formed until we're in our 20s. >> i think e-cigarettes are worse for teenagers than regular cigarettes because e-cigarettes give you a false sense of security. you tend to think, "oh, they're safer. it's just the nicotine and not all those other chemicals." but really, the nicotine is what hooks you, what gets you addicted to smoking. >> what no doubt confuses many teens is that they hear that adults use e-cigarettes as a supposedly healthier alternative to smoking. >> and i think it's meant as a way for people to quit smoking so it's not as addictive as real cigarettes. >> and that is how the tobacco companies are starting to market e-cigarettes, as a way to get you to stop smoking. >> but as we've h