A new ad campaign, part of the FDA’s anti-tobacco initiative, warns that teenagers who vape are more likely to start smoking cigarettes. Originally introduced as an alternative to cigarettes which could help smokers wean themselves off tobacco, vape pens have actually been linked to an uptake in young people smoking smoking, the FDA has found.
The ad campaign includes a series of videos in which street magician Julius Dein wows young members of the public by appearing to transform their vape pens into cigarettes, helping hammer the message home. “Teens who vape are more likely to start smoking cigarettes,,” the ads say. “It’s not magic, it’s statistics.” The ads will air in time slots and on channels where they are most likely to reach a teenage audience.
FDA research indicates that at least 20 per cent of high school students have used a vape pen, and that number could soon be on the rise: representatives of e-cigarette manufacturer Juul have just been revealed in a Congressional hearing to have told a group of ninth grade students that vaping is “totally safe.” The company has previously been criticized by the CDC for appealing to younger consumers by selling Juul pods in sweet flavors with brightly colored packing.
“They’re probably not as bad as traditional cigarettes, but they’re still pretty bad,” says Stanton Glantz, Ph.D., adding that ingesting vaporized particles can cause similar inflammation in the heart and lungs as when smoking cigarettes, and that some Juul pods contain even more nicotine than a regular pack of smokes.
If you’re looking to kick your vaping habit, here are some things that could help:
Source: Read Full Article