Dr Karen Swanson

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We have all seen the headlines about the rising number of deaths and other health concerns associated with
vaping and e-cigarettes. In just four years the use of e cigarettes by teens has grown by nearly 50%. This growing
national health epidemic is of particular importance to parents of teens. While scientists are still learning about
the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes, all would agree that the use of e-cigarettes is unsafe for kids, teens,
and young adults.
On first look, vaping may appear less harmful than smoking, but vaping is not water vapor. It is a complex solution
of chemicals that have been changed from their original state because they’ve been heated to high temperatures.
Most e-cigarettes also contain nicotine—the addictive drug in regular cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco
products. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm adolescent brain development, which continues into the early
to mid-20s. Using nicotine in adolescence can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood,
and impulse control.
What is also of particular concern for teens is new research that shows that getting hooked on nicotine in
adolescence may be a gateway to cigarette smoking and addiction to other drugs. According to ongoing Mayo
Clinic research, teens who have never smoked a cigarette are three to four times more likely to start smoking in
the future if they use e-cigarettes. What is particularly troubling is that the rise in teen vaping appears to be
reversing a long-term trend of declining teen tobacco use. With 6–7 million people from around the world dying
every year from smoking, according to Mayo Clinic’s Dr. J. Taylor Hays, “If the current trends of smoking
prevalence continue across the world, we’ll reach 1 billion smoking-related deaths in this century.&quot; A disturbing
statistic when tobacco use remains the largest cause of preventable death and disability in the U.S.