How E-Cigarette Makers Target Youth
Public health efforts to curb teen smoking had made quite a bit of progress, until Juul and other e-cigarette brands came on the market in 2015.
E-cigarettes, or vape pens, were initially introduced to the world as smoking cessation aids. They claimed that it was just “water vapor”, surely less harmful than smoking cigarettes. But here’s where things went wrong. The aerosol that users breathe from the device and exhale can contain many harmful substances, including nicotine, ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs, cancer-causing chemicals, and heavy metals such as lead.
JUUL, a popular brand of e-cigarette, has the tagline “The Smoking Alternative”. Sure, it’s not a cigarette, but it still contains high levels of nicotine. According to the manufacturer, a single JUUL pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 cigarettes.
With the advent of tasty artificial flavors like “gummy bear” and “cool cucumber”, something that is illegal for cigarette manufacturers, vaping has become extremely attractive to young people. In fact, 1 in 5 highschool students admit to vaping.
A National Academy of Medicine report found some evidence that e-cigarette use increases the frequency and amount of cigarette smoking in the future. So it seems that the “smoking alternative” may really be the “smoking gateway”.
In this episode, Dr. Susan Walley, Chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Children's National Hospital, discusses her work developing effective healthcare and school-based interventions to reduce youth tobacco use.
Dr. Susan Walley is Chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Children's National Hospital. She is an expert in the prevention of youth tobacco use and tobacco-related diseases. She also serves as the Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Nicotine and Tobacco Prevention and Treatment. Her research interests include developing effective healthcare and school-based interventions.
Topics covered:
How e-cigarette use changed during the pandemic
Sketchy practices and loopholes used by e-cigarette manufacturers to hook kids
How big tobacco targets the Black community
If vaping can actually help people quit smoking
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