Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, which contain nicotine are tobacco products and should be subject to all laws that apply to such products, the American Heart Association has just announced.

Issuing its new policy recommendations this week for the use of e-cigarettes, the association, aside from advising for the application of all current tobacco laws, also called for strong new regulations to prevent access, sales and marketing of e-cigarettes to youth, and for more research into the product's health impact.

The new policy guidelines were published in the association's journal, Circulation.

"Over the last 50 years, 20 million Americans died because of tobacco. We are fiercely committed to preventing the tobacco industry from addicting another generation of smokers," Nancy Brown, CEO of the AHA, said in a news release.

"Recent studies raise concerns that e-cigarettes may be a gateway to traditional tobacco products for the nation's youth, and could re-normalize smoking in our society," she said. "These disturbing developments have helped convince the association that e-cigarettes need to be strongly regulated, thoroughly researched and closely monitored."

The advisory document recommends a federal ban on e-cigarettes for minors and details concerns that such products may serve as another entry point for nicotine addiction.

The authors of the position document cited research in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics that studied 40,000 middle and high school students and found adolescents consider e-cigarettes as high-tech, accessible and convenient, especially in places where smoking cigarettes is not allowed.

Echoing its previous comment letter to the the Food and Drug Administration about that agency's proposed tobacco oversight rule, the heart association recommended imposing strict laws that curb the intense marketing and advertising of e-cigarettes, and ban flavorings in these products.

Ads using celebrities and alluring flavors make the products more appealing to children and adolescents, the association argued.

A recent survey found youth exposure to e-cigarettes advertising rose dramatically, over 250 percent, from 2011 to 2013, and effectively reached over 24 million young people.

"E-cigarettes have caused a major shift in the tobacco-control landscape," said Aruni Bhatnagar, lead author and professor of medicine at the University of Louisville. "It's critical that we rigorously examine the long-term impact of this new technology on public health, cardiovascular disease and stroke, and pay careful attention to the effect of e-cigarettes on adolescents."

Said Brown: "In the years since the FDA first announced it would assert its authority over e-cigarettes the market for these products has grown ... We fear that any additional delay of these new regulations will have real, continuing public health consequences. Hence, we urge the agency to release the tobacco deeming rule by the end of this year."

Finally in the new statement, the association calls for comprehensive and continuous research on e-cigarettes' use, their characteristics, their marketing, and their long-term health effects on individual users, the environment and public health.

"Nicotine is a dangerous and highly addictive chemical no matter what form it takes -- conventional cigarettes or some other tobacco product," said association President Elliott Antman. "Every life that has been lost to tobacco addiction could have been prevented. We must protect future generations from any potential smokescreens in the tobacco product landscape that will cause us to lose precious ground in the fight to make our nation 100 percent tobacco-free."