The free reign of the e-cigarette industry soon may be going up in smoke.

A major medical group is reigniting the debate about the safety of e-cigarettes on Monday by announcing sweeping new recommendations.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is urging the Food and Drug Administration to classify e-cigs as a tobacco product and raise the age requirement to 21 for buying any tobacco product.

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“Right now there are states where you can sell an electronic cigarette to a 6-year-old,” said Dr. Karen Wilson, chair of the AAP Section on Tobacco Control.

The number of teens who smoke e-cigs has tripled in the past three years.

Wilson, a practicing pediatrician in Colorado, told LifeZette that e-cigs are threatening to get a new generation addicted to nicotine. In 2014, more young adults reported using e-cigarettes than any other tobacco product.

“We’re really concerned about teenagers using these because we’re seeing some evidence that teens who have never smoked a cigarette will use electronic cigarettes,” she said. “Then many of them go on to use combustible cigarettes as well.”

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In treating e-cigs as a tobacco product, the physicians group wants the Food and Drug Administration to apply the same age restrictions, taxes, and bans on advertising to young people.

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Wilson told LifeZette the industry has clearly marketed its products to teens. She says the “blu” ad that ran in Sports Illustrated last year was “highly sexualized” and obviously designed to sell e-cigs to “an audience that typically skews younger.”

The ad is used as an example of teen marketing on the website for the “Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.”

LifeZette reached out to several e-cigarette companies for their reaction to the new recommendations, but none agreed to answer any questions about their products.

There are, however, supporters willing to talk.

“Honestly, it’s been life-changing,” 51-year-old Traci Harmon said. “I feel 10 years younger because I can breathe again.”

The Delaware woman said she has no doubt e-cigs helped her quit smoking after many years of trying and failing.

“I can drive up the street to the local vaping shop and probably put you in touch with 10 people that will tell you the same thing,” she said.

“I’ve tried patches. I’ve tried gums. I’ve tried Chantix. I’ve tried it all. It did not work.”

Harmon has not had any nicotine for two years now.

“I don’t see that big of a deal raising the age limit, but when it comes to regulating it like a tobacco product, I think that’s a bit of a knee-jerk reaction,” she said. “They don’t have any scientific evidence to back it up, at least not what I’ve seen.”

The AAP is hoping the FDA takes into account the lack of evidence that e-cigs are completely safe. Whether the agency will take action is uncertain.

“The FDA had put out a notice they intend to regulate electronic cigarettes, but that’s been going on for years,” Wilson said. “Right now, there is no regulation at all.”

The AAP’s recommendations and research are published in the current issue of the medical journal Pediatrics.