Vaping, E-Cigarettes,

Tobacco & Nicotine

Vaping + Coronavirus:

Here’s what we know.

Even though we’re being proactive – washing our hands, wearing masks, staying indoors – we can’t control our loved ones around us, and we understand that vaping (and smoking) are addictive, and hard to quit even when we know that they’re not doing us any favors, health-wise.

We know smoking and vaping damage lungs and weaken the body’s immune system.

According to Dr. Nora Volkow, a Director at the National Institutes of Health, “the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could be an especially serious threat to those who smoke tobacco or marijuana or who vape.”

Young people who had vaped were 5x more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19.

That’s 5x more likely. Research also showed that vaping or smoking may increase the risk of needing intensive care, or even dying from COVID-19.

Studies suggest that people who vape are more likely to get respiratory infections.

Because of this, people who smoke or vape may be in higher risk category when it comes to viruses like COVID-19, which, like we said before, attacks the lungs.

Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine and director of the Center of Tobacco Research Control & Education, said that “when someone’s lungs are exposed to flue or other infections, the adverse effects of smoking or vaping are much more serious than among people who do not smoke or vape.”

Vaping may increase the spread of COVID-19.

Hand-to-mouth contact (picture someone smoking or vaping. That’s hand-to-mouth contact.) is how the coronavirus is easily spread.

And we probably don’t need to tell you sharing puff bars, JUULs or other vapes can also facilitate the spread of the virus, but we’re going to tell you anyway. Because if you’re doing that, stop now. Please.

Source:

What’s the Bottom Line on the Risks of E-cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults?

The use of e-cigarettes is unsafe for kids, teens, and young adults.
Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm adolescent brain development, which continues into the early to mid-20s.¹
E-cigarettes can contain other harmful substances besides nicotine.
Young people who use e-cigarettes may be more likely to smoke cigarettes in the future.

What Are E-cigarettes?

E-cigarettes are electronic devices that heat a liquid and produce an aerosol, or mix of small particles in the air.
E-cigarettes come in many shapes and sizes. Most have a battery, a heating element, and a place to hold a liquid.
Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Some look like USB flash drives, pens, and other everyday items. Larger devices such as tank systems, or “mods,” do not look like other tobacco products.
E-cigarettes are known by many different names. They are sometimes called “e-cigs,” “e-hookahs,” “mods,” “vape pens,” “vapes,” “tank systems,” and “electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).”
Using an e-cigarette is sometimes called “vaping.”

Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, cigars, or pipes.
Some look like USB flash drives, pens, and other everyday items.

How Do E-cigarettes Work?

Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, cigars, or pipes.
Some look like USB flash drives, pens, and other everyday items.

What Is Juul?

JUUL is a brand of e-cigarette that is shaped like a USB flash drive. Like other e-cigarettes, JUUL is a battery-powered device that heats a nicotine-containing liquid to produce an aerosol that is inhaled.
All JUUL e-cigarettes have a high level of nicotine. According to the manufacturer, a single JUUL pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 regular cigarettes.
JUUL is one of a few e-cigarettes that use nicotine salts, which allow particularly high levels of nicotine to be inhaled more easily and with less irritation than the free-base nicotine that has traditionally been used in tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
News outlets and social media sites report widespread use of JUUL by students in schools, including classrooms and bathrooms.
Approximately two-thirds of JUUL users aged 15 – 24 do not know that JUUL always contains nicotine.
Although JUUL is currently the top-selling e-cigarette brand in the United States, other companies sell e-cigarettes that look like USB flash drives. Examples include the MarkTen Elite, a nicotine delivery device, and the PAX Era, a marijuana delivery device that looks like JUUL.

Can Using E-cigarettes Lead to Future Cigarette Smoking Among Kids, Teens, and Young Adults?

Many young people who use e-cigarettes also smoke cigarettes. There is some evidence that young people who use e-cigarettes may be more likely to smoke cigarettes in the future.
Specifically, a 2018 National Academy of Medicine report found that there was some evidence that e-cigarette use increases the frequency and amount of cigarette smoking in the future.⁴
E-cigarettes also can be used to deliver other drugs, including marijuana; in 2016, approximately one-third of U.S. middle and high school students who have ever used an e-cigarette reported using marijuana in the device.
But e-cigarette use among young people is still unsafe, even if they do not progress to future cigarette smoking.

Aren’t E-cigarettes Safer Than Cigarettes?

E-cigarettes expose users to fewer harmful chemicals than burned cigarettes.¹
But burned cigarettes are very dangerous, killing half of all people who smoke long-term.
The use of any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe for young people.

What Can I Do to Prevent My Child from Using E-cigarettes or to Help Them Stop?

Set a good example by being tobacco-free and ensure that your kid is not exposed to the secondhand emissions from any tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
If you use tobacco, it’s never too late to quit. For free help, visit smokefree.govexternal icon or call 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
Talk to your child or teen about why e-cigarettes are harmful for them. It’s never too late.
Click on the Talk With Your Teen About E-cigarettes pdf iconexternal icon [PDF – 5.2MB] tip sheet for parents. Start the conversation early with children about why e-cigarettes are harmful for them.
Let your child know that you want them to stay away from all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, because they are not safe for them. Seek help and get involved.
- Set up an appointment with your child’s health care provider so that they can hear from a medical professional about the health risks of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
- Speak with your child’s teacher and school administrator about enforcement of tobacco-free school grounds policies and tobacco prevention curriculum.
- Encourage your child to learn the facts and get tips for quitting tobacco products at Teen.smokefree.govexternal icon.

Source:

Vaping: The Hit Your Brain Takes Video

Almost 90 percent of adult daily smokers started smoking by the age of 18,¹ and about 2,000 youth under 18 smoke their first cigarette every day in the United States.² In fact, use of tobacco products, no matter what type, is almost always started and established during adolescence when the developing brain is most vulnerable to nicotine addiction.^3,4

These facts highlight a critical need for targeted youth tobacco prevention efforts designed to protect America’s kids.

FDA’s Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan

In 2017, the FDA announced a comprehensive plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation that places nicotine, and the issue of addiction, at the center of the agency’s tobacco regulation efforts. This plan will serve as a multiyear roadmap to better protect kids and significantly reduce tobacco-related disease and death in the U.S. A key component of this plan is the Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan, which aims to stop youth use of, and access to, tobacco products—especially e-cigarettes.

Understanding Youth Tobacco Use in the U.S.

The FDA is committed to a science-based approach that addresses public health issues associated with tobacco use. That’s why we collaborate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health on the only nationally representative survey of middle and high school students that focuses exclusively on tobacco use—the National Youth Tobacco Survey. Results from this survey provide the FDA with some key national indicators of the effectiveness of comprehensive tobacco prevention and control programs.

Public Health Education to Reduce Youth Tobacco Use

Considering substantial evidence supporting mass media campaigns as an effective strategy to prevent and reduce youth tobacco use, FDA developed and launched its first tobacco prevention campaign, “The Real Cost.” The award-winning campaign has been extremely successful in reaching at-risk youth with messages about the dangers of cigarette smoking. From its launch in Feb. 2014 to Nov. 2016, “The Real Cost” prevented up to 587,000 youth ages 11 to 19 from initiating smoking, half of whom might have gone on to become established adult smokers. Ultimately, by preventing these kids from becoming established smokers, the campaign will save them, their families, and the country more than $53 billion by reducing smoking-related costs External Link Disclaimer like early loss of life, costly medical care, lost wages, lower productivity, and increased disability – that’s more than $180,000 in savings for each of the up to 293,500 youth that would likely have become an established smoker. The FDA also has developed additional public education campaigns designed to prevent and reduce tobacco use in the United States.

Flavored Tobacco

FDA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to seek public comment on the role that flavors in tobacco products—including menthol—play in attracting youth. The agency already banned certain characterizing flavors in cigarettes in 2009, including fruit and clove, because of their appeal to youth. The agency’s national effort to enforce this provision of the Tobacco Control Act and to advise parents about the dangers of flavored tobacco products was one of its important first steps toward responsible tobacco regulation to protect youth.

Learn more about FDA’s efforts to explore the potential risks and benefits of flavored tobacco products.

Regulations Restricting the Sale and Distribution of Tobacco Products to Protect Children and Adolescents

Since 2009, the FDA has regulated cigarettes, smokeless, and roll-your-own tobacco. In 2016, the FDA finalized a rule to regulate all tobacco products, including:

E-cigarettes/electronic cigarettes/vaporizers
Cigars
Hookah (waterpipe tobacco)
Pipe tobacco
Nicotine gels
Dissolvables

These rules protect children and adolescents by restricting youth access to all tobacco products by:

Not allowing products to be sold to anyone younger than 18 and requiring age verification via photo ID
Not allowing tobacco products to be sold in vending machines (unless in an adult-only facility)
Not allowing the distribution of free samples of tobacco products