Holiday Wishes are all-around American families as we approach our most beloved and blessed holidays. However, this year respiratory dangers are as alarmingly present as Christmas carols, cards, and Holiday lights.
Thus, the FLASS Blog must bring you Holiday warnings with our holiday wishes. In fact, although this blog has its own title, you could also consider it as Part II of our most recent blog.
Wishes After Warnings
Before we count our Holiday Wishes, we feel parents must immediately receive Holiday Warnings. You see, the CDC has released new data on Tobacco Use among Middle and High School Students.
And now the American Lung Association has responded to the CDC report. As you might have guessed, they are also alerting parents. FLASS broached the subject in our previous blog. This was an official FLASS alert concerning EVALI and E-cigarettes.
American Lung Association Responds: New CDC Data on Tobacco Use among Middle and High School Students
The American Lung Association Chief Medical Officer is Albert A. Rizzo, MD. He made a statement last week after the CDC released a fearsome report in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The subject of their alarm: tobacco use among middle and high school students. He stated, “Today’s MMWR confirms that teen tobacco use is still an alarming problem that requires immediate action…”
Holiday Wishes Take a Backseat to Holiday Warnings
According to both the above expert organizations, parents have just cause to be worried about their children’s lungs. We also worry about how this problem intensified without parents and doctors noticing sooner. So take a quick look at a few scary statistics.
- In 2019, close to 1 in 3 high school students (4.7 million) are using a tobacco product.
- Likewise, 1 in 8 middle school students (1.5 million) currently use a tobacco product.
Do the math: You will discover that 6.2 million kids are using. This total is up from 3.6 million just two years ago
He added, “We are failing the health of our youth if we don’t act quickly.” And he explained, “Electronic cigarettes have not only replaced cigarettes as the product of choice among high school students, but they have addicted millions more youth.”
Facts Parents Might not Know
There are some new tobacco usage facts that researchers suggest you might prioritize above your children’s holiday wishes and gift lists.
- For example, did you know More than 2.1 million kids are considered dual users? Thus, they use more than one tobacco product at the same time. Could your middle-schooler be one of these statistics? Find out how to talk to him or her about tobacco use, in our previous blog.
- Tobacco usage among children is widely varied: Kids are using both e-cigarettes and cigarettes.
- As the American Lung Society stated, high school, junior high and middle school students admit to habitually using smokeless tobacco. These include cigars and hookahs.
More Holiday Tobacco Use Warnings from the CDC
According to the aforementioned report, the CDC has stated that “Tobacco product use is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States.” Let’s take a look at their warnings:
- First and foremost, the CDC stated: “tobacco product use among youths is critical to decreasing morbidity and mortality…”
- The reason for this is that the researchers proved that nearly tobacco users begin during youth.
- The CDC proved that 9 out of 10 adult cigarette smokers started the habit before they became age 18 years old.
- And now, youth have more choices of tobacco products than previously. We all know this from the tragic coverage of the disease now termed EVALI. EVALI victims showed us the far-reaching circumstances of the latest trend, E-cigarettes. FLASS joins both the CDC and the American Lung Association in dismay over the recent lung injury crisis.
Holiday Wishes Accompany these Warnings
At FLASS, doctors and staff believe we must increase our awareness of the dangers of tobacco products. And we include smoked, smokeless, and electronic products in our warnings. One of our biggest Holiday Wishes is that education will conquer tobacco’s temptations. FLASS hopes your child will avoid the health traps of tobacco addiction
Why Would A Child Smoke or Vape?
The American Lung Association has explored the reasons children are using more tobacco products. The reason is simple. And yet, if you explore recent marketing, it is also very insidious.
“Flavors are one of the main reasons kids start to use tobacco products.”
- 69% of students who used tobacco products reported using a flavored tobacco product in the past 30 days.
- We all have heard of candy-flavored E-cigarettes.
- Likewise, “Sales of flavored cigars have also increased by nearly 50% since 2008.
- Did you know flavored cigars made up more than half (52.1%) of the U.S. cigar market in 2015?
The American Lung Society: Your Children’s Advocate
The American Lung Society hopes that the FDA, and Congress will work with states and hometowns. Together, they could stop tobacco use, The American Lung Society wants the government to reset the smoking age to 21. “Six million children can’t afford to wait.”
Parents can discover more about vaping at this convenient online resource. Included are resources for parents and schools. In case you did not know, the American Lung Association focuses on four strategic big wishes. This includes both holiday time and regular time:
- First, they work to defeat lung cancer.
- Secondly, they strive to improve the air we breathe.
- Thirdly, they hope to “reduce the burden of lung disease on individuals and their families.
- Fourthly, they advocate the elimination of tobacco use and tobacco-related diseases.
While We are Making Holiday Wishes…
We do not think it is inappropriate to mention a special fact at this time of year. Our charitable organizations like the American Lung Association, rely on our generosity to accomplish the above goals. Thus, we remind you that a donation to them is, as they say, “a gift of breath.” It might, in the long run, be a gift to someone you know and love.
Holiday Wishes from FLASS
Now we do not mean to cause you undue anxiety with our stern tobacco Warnings. We would be remiss if we did not also send you heartfelt good wishes for the Holiday Seasons.
Every year many of us at FLASS revert to the magic and wonder of childhood when the Christmas lights appear in our neighborhood. We take child-like delight in the joyous music and the slight chill in the Florida air. And who could resist the wide eyes of the children as they sing the Carols?
The holidays at this time of year represent innocence, charity, joy and all the finest qualities humans strive to attain in life.
Therefore, we of FLASS share heartfelt wishes that you have wonderful Holiday Dreams come true. And what we wish most for you most this year is time. —Time to look into your loved one’s eyes and tell them how much they mean to you. —And time to tell them how much you love them!