I like the CDC on most topics, but they get whacky on nicotine issues.
Whacky is one thing, grossly misleading is another. Here's what's considered the money line in the story:
"The results show that 43.9 percent of sixth- through 12th-graders who had used e-cigarettes said they intended to light up conventional cigarettes over the next year, compared with 21.5 percent of youth who had never used the electronic nicotine delivery systems."
And here's the line, buried in the report, that you won't see reported much:
"The study also showed that 21.9 percent of the youth who had never smoked traditional cigarettes intended to give them a try in the next year -- almost exactly the same proportion as the 21.5 percent who had never tried an e-cigarette --"
In other words, 1 in 5 kids are going to smoke whether or not they tried ecigs. The 44% group is a subset of those who are going to smoke anyway.
As a matter of fact, ecigs are not a very good gateway as more than half of the kids who tried them are not going to smoke.