Students and parents were invited to a vaping panel discussion on February 5 at Chapel Hill High School, featuring Dr. Ilona Jaspers, the Director of Curriculum in Toxicology & Environmental Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Other panelists included school resource officer Gary Beneville, principal Charles Blanchard and students Avery Look, Sean Look and Nathan Ring.
The panel touched upon a variety of topics, such as the different types of vaping products and their prevalence in schools, the harmful effects of vaping and measures students can take to avoid vaping.
Jaspers pointed out the vaping products are particularly dangerous because the nicotine content in vaping devices is not regulated.
¨While there was standardization of cigarettes, e-cigarettes have no quality control,¨ she said, adding that the nicotine content of vaping products is not regulated in the United States.
Vaping devices began to appear about eight years ago, and the popular Juul e-cigarettes first became available in 2015.
Last December, President Trump signed legislation that prohibited the sale of tobacco and nicotine products to anyone under 21.
Jaspers, for her part, expressed skepticism that the new law would significantly curb underage tobacco usage.
¨It won’t help,” she said. “It may stop people who buy them in bulk.¨
According to the the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), more than five million middle- and high-school students possess, have used or frequently use some form of an e-cigarette.
Data from the NYTS also revealed that Juul was the preferred e-cigarette brand among teens. The FDA has placed many companies like Juul, Vuse and Blu under scrutiny for their advertisements that seemed to target the young adult and teen audience.
Governmental health organizations have also pointed out that many companies appeal to younger buyers by making e-cigarette devices available in fruit or candy flavors.
“Companies are making a gateway from fruity flavors to regular tobacco flavors. The fruity flavors attract younger people,” senior Avery Look said.
She added that the appearance of vaping devices also targeted younger buyers, allowing teens to use the devices in a stealthy manner.
“They make the flavors and packages appealing to younger people by using sleek and discrete designs that are easily portable,” Avery Look said.
Though he did not take part in the panel, science teacher Eric Stoffregen pointed out that the amount of nicotine present in vaping devices is ten to 100 times greater than that found in cigarettes and is consumed in a different fashion, making e-cigarette consumption particularly risky.
¨The companies’ efforts to disguise the hazards associated with the chemicals that are in the vaping liquids, specifically flavorings, make them super dangerous,¨ he said.
Officer Beneville says the school has confiscated over 50 vaping devices in the 2019-2020 school year.
