The Youth Epidemic: A New Wave of Lung Injuries
With the Trump administration considering a variety of bans on vaping products, many questions have been raised about the long-term health complications of vaping. These new regulations are designed to minimize cases of vaping respiratory-related illnesses by limiting the use of e-cigarettes and vaping products.
Since 2017, the number of high school seniors who have reported vaping nicotine at least once in the last 30 days has doubled. More nonsmokers and adolescents are using vaping products despite medical professionals being unsure of any long-term health repercussions. This new vaping epidemic may partially result from the increasing spread of Juul advertisements. While Juul claims that their product is intended to help smokers overcome cigarette addictions, their marketing campaigns appear to target younger audiences: bright and colorful ads feature young models while product promotions appear throughout magazines and across social media. Like the tobacco industry promotions during the 1950s and 1960s, Juul advertisements are intended to appeal to a younger generation of people, leading to the development of the current youth vaping trend. Such influence has even led the state of California to issue a lawsuit against Juul Labs Inc. for its use of youth-targeted advertisements while failing to give warnings about the risks posed by the use of e-cigarette products.
Since 2017, the number of high school seniors who have reported vaping nicotine at least once in the last 30 days has doubled. More nonsmokers and adolescents are using vaping products despite medical professionals being unsure of any long-term health repercussions. This new vaping epidemic may partially result from the increasing spread of Juul advertisements. While Juul claims that their product is intended to help smokers overcome cigarette addictions, their marketing campaigns appear to target younger audiences: bright and colorful ads feature young models while product promotions appear throughout magazines and across social media. Like the tobacco industry promotions during the 1950s and 1960s, Juul advertisements are intended to appeal to a younger generation of people, leading to the development of the current youth vaping trend. Such influence has even led the state of California to issue a lawsuit against Juul Labs Inc. for its use of youth-targeted advertisements while failing to give warnings about the risks posed by the use of e-cigarette products.
Contrary to their mission statement of helping tobacco smokers overcome their addiction, the Juul Campaign Ads target a younger demographic of users.
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While legal challenges form just one half of the effort to curb vaping-related injuries, medical providers are striving to better characterize and treat these illnesses. Such research is hampered by the unknown root cause of lung injury. Initial onset of vaping-related lung injuries can be hard to identify, with symptoms including fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Later onset of respiratory injuries is also expected in the form of these vaping-associated lung injuries, which may include coughing, nausea, watery diarrhea, and chest or abdominal pain. Yet, over 1,000 cases of vaping associated-lung injury have been reported without a specified cause since June 2019. In response to this ongoing outbreak, the Utah Department of Health conducted a case study to describe the correlation between vape use and associated lung injuries. They found that individuals who used e-cigarettes with THC cartridges, the active ingredient in marijuana, experienced disproportionately greater hospitalization and other lung-related injuries. Research has also found that THC vape products produce vitamin E acetate. Although the exact role that vitamin E plays is still unknown, it may indicate that the primary risk of vaping comes from the chemicals used to thicken and dilute vape oil mixtures.
This can have deadly implications. Scientists have found 18 deaths related to vaping-associated lung injuries, and expect many more go undocumented. As medical professions were unable to determine the exact cause for the lung injury in the 79 patients studied, the current recommendation is that people avoid all e-cigarette and vaping products until more research can be done.
This can have deadly implications. Scientists have found 18 deaths related to vaping-associated lung injuries, and expect many more go undocumented. As medical professions were unable to determine the exact cause for the lung injury in the 79 patients studied, the current recommendation is that people avoid all e-cigarette and vaping products until more research can be done.
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