What Parents Should Know About Teen Vaping   

I am not sure why people vape.  Apparently the young think it is cool.  Plus, they love the various flavors—which are now “outlawed” in California.  But, like marijuana until legalized, very easy to get.  For adults, they think it is a substitute for cigarettes and safer.

As for me, I do not care.  Smoke or don’t smoke, that should be your right.  Do so with the information of the science of vaping—then decide.

“Young children who vape are unaware that vaping liquids contain nicotine and other poisonous substances that is injurious to health and brain development of teens. Young teens are attracted to vapes because vapes have lots of appealing aromatic flavors making it easy to hook them on nicotine which is both poisonous, dangerous, and a gateway to the use of other substances.

Vape devices are designed to appear fashionable like pens in kids’ backpacks. Every parent should be well informed about how vaping affects children’s health, and the academic, social and emotional wellbeing of their kids. Being aware will help parents to watch and guide their kids against vaping so as to protect their health and future.

According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, in 2022, 2.5 million youth in middle and high schools used E-cigarettes and that 85% of them used flavored e-cigarettes and disposable E-cigarettes as the most common device in most cases.”

Educate the children.  When you use the force of government, they will rebel—just as they did with the very dangerous marijuana.

What Parents Should Know About Teen Vaping   

Raymond Chimezie, PhD, CHES, 11/23/23 

Program DirectorBehavioral Health-Risk Prevention Health for Schools & Communities Foundation (https://healthfsc.org/)

Teens’ use and preference for vape products begins to increase as they grow and move from middle to high school. The tendency for teens to vape come from peer pressure, the belief that it relieves stress, looks cool, or that it is safer than cigarettes.

This is erroneous! Young children who vape are unaware that vaping liquids contain nicotine and other poisonous substances that is injurious to health and brain development of teens. Young teens are attracted to vapes because vapes have lots of appealing aromatic flavors making it easy to hook them on nicotine which is both poisonous, dangerous, and a gateway to the use of other substances.

Vape devices are designed to appear fashionable like pens in kids’ backpacks. Every parent should be well informed about how vaping affects children’s health, and the academic, social and emotional wellbeing of their kids. Being aware will help parents to watch and guide their kids against vaping so as to protect their health and future.

According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, in 2022, 2.5 million youth in middle and high schools used E-cigarettes and that 85% of them used flavored e-cigarettes and disposable E-cigarettes as the most common device in most cases.

Also, the California Department of Public Health reported that teenagers and young adults make up almost half of the people hospitalized with breathing problems from vaping in California and that 30% of which are treated with life support machines in the intensive care units.

What Is Vaping? Vaping happens when a person inhales and exhales vapor containing nicotine and flavorings using a designed electronic device for this purpose. Flavorings are food additives used to improve the taste and flavor of foods and they have no nutritional values. They are used purposefully to conceal the usual tobacco smoke smell and make detecting vapes difficult.

The devices are battery-operated which heat up the liquids that teens inhale as aerosol. Aerosol typically contains nicotine, marijuana, cannabidiol etc., and other harmful substances which are transferred into their lungs during vaping.  Electronic vaping devices appear in different forms like disposable e-cigarettes (cigarlike), vape pens, tanks and mods.  Tobacco companies and marketers continue to perfect the design of E-cigarettes to appeal to kids and lure them to nicotine addiction.  

Parents should be made to know that some vape devices are designed to look like pens and USBs used by students. Such designs and the different flavors of vapes make them confusing to parents who are not smokers or do not use them. Here are the four differences designs of electronic vaping devices commonly used by children:  

1. Cigalikes (First Generation). Cigalikes are disposable devices. These appear in the same size, color, and shape of traditional cigarettes. It has small cylinders and so do not contain enough battery power to last for a whole day for a smoker.
2. Vape Pen (Second Generation).  They are larger than cigalikes, has more battery power, refillable tanks to enable vapers choose from a variety of liquid flavors.  The flavors might be like Menthol/Mint, Dessert/Creams, Fruit Citrus, Beverage Sweets & Candy, Nuts & Spices. These flavors are made so to confuse parents and caring adults and for kids to secretly vape without being noticed. This is simply to increase addiction.
3. Mod (Third Generation). Have more battery capacity, more vapes, temperature control features for consistent vapes,  
4. Mechanical Modes (Fourth Generation). Has more battery capacity than Third Generation, customizable vape, huge choice of atomizers, can use any liquid etc.

Why Parents should be Cautious and Concerned about Teen Vaping?

While it is easy to detect the smell of cigarettes, it is not the same with vapes. Parents should know that vaping produces vapor and not smokes so teens think it less dangerous than smoking.  Vaping produces pleasant odors which are refreshing and appealing to vapers and others.

The aerosol vapor contains potentially harmful substances including nicotine, heavy metals like lead, volatile organic compounds, and cancer-causing agents.  These substances are not good for health.

Every parent should be in the frontline to prevent teen vaping because exposure of teens to vaping or nicotine substances may disrupt teen’s brain development, damage lungs, and such damages may be irreversible. Also, teens can be harmed from defective vaping batteries which cause fires and explosions. Acute nicotine exposure can be toxic so also is the swallowing or excessive breathing of e-cigarette liquids.

In other to play a significant parental role in preventing vape use, parents need build good relationships with their teens and frankly talk with them about the dangers of vaping. Talking to your teen before the initiation of vaping is beneficial and may deter initiation.  Specifically, vaping is not cool and it is very dangerous to health.

Educating young children about the dangers of vaping before initiation is highly encouraged. Vaping increases risks for future addiction to other drugs, causes low attention span, and disrupts emotional stability. Children should be encouraged to do personal research to know more about the dangers of vaping and how the substances in e-cigarettes trick their brains to crave for more nicotine and other drugs.

Parents and their teens can learn more from E-cigarettes.SurgeonGeneral.gov; get more information from the teen’s personal doctors or call (1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669), or visit https://lungsrus.org/tobacco-control/

Furthermore, parents should observe or check their teens for signs of vaping such as: dry mouth, drinks more liquids than usual, have nosebleeds, clears throat frequently, or develop a persistent cough. Teach your teen to Say No to Vaping and resist peer pressure to try vapes.

Raymond Chimezie, PhD, CHES

Program Director

Behavioral Health-Risk Prevention

Health for Schools & Communities Foundation (https://healthfsc.org/)

Reference:

California Department of Public Health. (2022). Vaping associated lung injury. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/Pages/Vaping-Health-Advisory.aspx National Youth Tobacco Survey. (2022). Finding on youth E-Cigarette use.  https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/youth-and-tobacco/results-annual-national-youth-tobacco-survey#2022%20Findings