Risking Lung Injury: Kids Beware!

Risking Lung Injury because of vaping and E-cigarette usage has been a huge concern for respiratory specialists. Will your child be Risking Lung Injury when invited to try an E-cigarette during a holiday party?  The sudden near-epidemic of lung injury through the condition named EVALI has only served to sharpen the FLASS alarm about the “new” habit of vaping and E-cigarettes.  We already believed vaping to be dangerous. Now, with THC and Vitamin E and numerous additives, it has proven to be deadly to some patients.

To date, pulmonologists have hospitalized over 2000 people with E-cigarette and Vaping Associated Lung Injury disease. (EVALI) One of Our major concerns in regard to this issue is that these patients are young people.  Thus we are issuing a FLASS alert against holiday vaping experimentation.

Happy December, But Beware of Risking Lung Injury

We hate to sound like the Grinch by putting out a big lung alert while you are planning shopping and partying for the holiday.

But we feel obligated to extend special warnings to parents and children. We want you to join us in guarding young lungs during this blessed and happy season. (You might want to read or review a recent blog about EVALI, to equip yourself to talk to your child about the dangers of E-cigarettes.)

Risking Lung Injury:  A New Age of Temptation

You see, December brings together family and friends for special events and occasions.  With people of all ages planning time to mingle, we feel youth will have more opportunities to try new things.  That can be wonderful, but not if it includes trying out E-cigarettes. The intention of this blog is to present some simple, basic information about E-cigarettes, clearly and plainly.

We do this in hopes that you will have a conversation with younger members of your family. Thus you can and prevent them from risking lung injury.

Hot Button Facts on Risking Lung Injury

We have some “hot button” facts listed in this blog.  Use them to educate your kids about all the dangers associated with vaping—because if no one has offered your child e-cigarettes, they will. This blog gives you and your child the ammunition to fight back.

Bottom Line Risks of E-cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults

According to CDC experts, even if we disregard EVALI, the use of E-cigarettes has always been inherently risky for youngsters.  Here are some questions for parents and children:

1. Did you know that most E-cigarettes contain nicotine? Even the ones that say they have 0 Nicotine often have it. In addition to being highly addictive, are you aware nicotine can harm adolescent brain development? And this harm extends into young adults, up to their mid-20s? which continues into the early to mid-20s.
2. Are you aware that E-cigarettes contain other harmful substances besides nicotine? The most obvious of these substances has turned out to be Vitamin E acetate. Find out more about this substance in one of our previous blogs. Apparently you can digest Vitamin E acetate, but inhaling it can turn deadly with EVALI.
3. (Tell the kids:  And if you or your buddy buy their E-cigarettes on the street-corner, you don’t know what strange substances might be cooked into the recipe.)
4. Did you know that research has proven young people who use E-cigarettes are often prone to smoking regular cigarettes in the future?

Parents, Please Assert Yourselves With Logical Explanations

Without even considering the fact that E-cigarettes often contain marijuana, what’s the big deal about nicotine? Here is what the CDC advises

us to share with our children:  “Your brain is still developing until about age 25. The Surgeon General reported that nicotine is addictive and can harm your brain development.”

• In other words, Mom or Dad can explain, “Using nicotine at your age may make it harder for you to concentrate, learn, or control your impulses.”
• Likewise, there is research that suggests, “Nicotine can even train your brain to be more easily addicted to other drugs like meth and cocaine.”

The Surgeon General:  Ammunition to Help Children Resist Temptation

One parental tip we really like, from the surgeon’s online resource, is the suggested tone for your serious conversation. Here is an example, “I don’t say this to scare you, but I want you to have the facts because nothing is more important to me than your health and safety.”

When Your Child Says “Aren’t e-cigarettes safer than conventional cigarettes?”

As we have discussed, you might have already mentioned brain development but the question gives you the opportunity to re-visit the concept.  You can comment, “Your brain is still developing, and “scientific studies show that it isn’t safe for you to use any tobacco product that contains nicotine, including e-cigarettes.”

Then you can add that whether the source of the nicotine is an E-cigarette or a cigarette, both are very risky. You will find many more examples of parent and child dialog at this excellent online resource.  With similar dialogue, perhaps you can prevent his or her risking lung injury with any type of tobacco product.

Risking Lung Injury With Many Shapes and Sizes

First of all, please make it clear that E-cigarettes are basically electronic devices. They heat a liquid. Thus they produce an aerosol, which is a “mix of small particles in the air.”

In Case You Don’t Know:

No matter what they look like, they all have these components:  a battery, a heating element, and a place to hold a liquid.

Getting Down to the Nitty-Gritty:  “Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, cigars, or pipes.” Others wear disguises. “They look like USB flash drives, pens, and other everyday items.

Larger devices such as tank systems, or “mods,” do not look like other tobacco products.”
E-cigarettes are known by many different names. They are sometimes called “e-cigs,” “e-hookahs,” “mods,” “vape pens,” “vapes,” “tank systems,” and “electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).”
Inhaling the aerosol from the heated juice of the e-cigarette is called “vaping,” but the brand name, “JUULing” has risen in popularity. It sounds so pretty and innocuous, doesn’t it?

A Juicy Detail Your Child Needs to Know: 

The liquid typically contains nicotine. Sometimes flavorings and mysterious chemicals help to make the aerosol. So, advise your child to beware of “e-juice,” “e-liquid,” “vape juice,” or “vape liquid.” And remember, like second-hand smoke, bystanders can accidentally breathe the vapor.  You might think it is just water vapor. Recent studies show it is not. Risking Lung Injury begins when kids inhale the aerosol mentioned above.

Risking Lung Injury:  What is EVALI?

Of course, the “elephant in the room” during your conversation with your child about vaping will be the recent outbreak of the disease, EVALI. The fact is that, “as of December 4, 2019, 2,291 cases of hospitalized e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury

(EVALI) have been reported to CDC from 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 2 U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands).”

1.        All EVALI patients have reported using e-cigarettes or vaping, products.

2.       Finally, after careful consideration, Vitamin E acetate has been identified as a chemical of high risk, if not the direct cause of lung disease and dysfunction.

3.       THC (the hallucinogenic part of marijuana, is present in most of the lung samples tested by FDA to date. Likewise, most patients report using THC-containing e-cigarette or vaping products.

4.       Sadly, research shows that “THC-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products, particularly from informal sources like friends, or family, or in-person or online dealers, are linked to most of the cases and play a major role in the outbreak.”

Our FLASS Terrific Take-Away: 

It’s official.  The Doctors and staff at FLASS are announcing a special warning against E-cigarette use, especially for kids and young people.

This blog seeks your help as a parent in our effort to protect young lungs from risking lung injury, nicotine addiction, and EVALI. When you know about EVALI, and share vaping information with your children, we can work together. Then they can say “no,” when their friends offer them an E-cigarette. We can help them avoid risking lung injury.

At FLASS, our doctors and staff sincerely hope you are having a happy, healthy December.  And we hope this blog article can help prevent even one of you from risking lung injury, nicotine addiction or EVALI. In fact, we will make that our first Christmas wish for you and your family!  And we’ll be making more lung-healthy wishes for you as December continues.