Reflecting on the vaping epidemic and discussing

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As the death toll climbs, and as more related illnesses increase, local school districts, activist groups and the U.S. government takes action against vaping.

STORY AND DESIGN BY FEATURES EDITOR AVERY BRUNDIGE & REPORTER MAGGIE MCKINNEY

The United States saw its first confirmed vaping related fatality Aug. 23. In the two months following, the death toll has continued to climb as it now nears 30, and more than 1,300 are affected with illnesses possibly connected to vaping.

New research by the Center for Disease Control has linked e-cigarettes and THC pen use to lung disease, pneumonia, seizures and, in most cases, acute respiratory distress syndrome.

“It took 15 to 20 years for the first reported deaths linked to cigarettes come out,” biochemist and Big Tobacco whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand said via Skype. “Now, we’re seeing the first deaths related to vaping after less than five years? They really portray these devices as being safe when they’re not safe at all.”

E-cigarette use has jumped 78% among high school students and 48% among middle school students between 2017 and 2018, according to a survey done by the Food and Drug Administration. And in a 2014 FDA survey, it directly linked the spike in youth vaping to flavor options, as 81% of young users said flavored e-liquids kept them vaping.

“I know that they're very attractive,” principal Natalie McDonough said. “They target high school kids, specifically with the ‘cotton candy’ and the ‘latte’ and all those things.”

About 16% of vaping-related illnesses afflict minors, according to the CDC. Although this percentage is relatively small, it is on the rise as vapes are becoming more and more prevalent on the black market. E-cigarettes are more accessible to minors and unregulated, making them more dangerous than ever before, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“I think what makes them dangerous is kids don’t have to be smart to use them. There is no sneaking around,” senior Grace Parrot said. “The problem is how easy they are to buy and hide.”

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson spoke out against youth vaping Tuesday Oct. 15. Although he does not plan to place a ban on e-cigarettes at this time, he plans to launch a campaign to stop youth vape targeting and to encourage teens to turn away from all nicotine and THC vapor products, according to the Kansas City Star.

“I know girls think that it is safer than smoking, but I hope they heed what is happening to people who are really getting damaged,” McDonough said. “They are so young to be destroying their lungs this early.”

THE EPIDEMIC

The primary risk of vaping is addiction. The higher the dose, the greater the risk. One JUUL pod contains more nicotine than a pack of cigarettes. Although addiction is a mental illness, it is the driving factor that leads to more severe physical ailments. Organizations like Tobacco Free Kansas and First Call have recently seen a spike in nicotine-related addictions, especially in teens, according to First Call Director of Prevention Services Margaux Guignon.

“Since the use of e-cigarettes has increased, we are getting tons of requests for presentations to both parents and students about vaping,” Guignon said. “Not just presentations about the dangers of vaping, but also presentations to just bring awareness to parents and the community about what vaping is.”

In some cases, student athletes who have become addicted to THC pens or vaping products have reported a difficulty in “pulling enough air into their lungs,” according to an interview conducted by NBC News. story continued on page 16

“I know people who have vaped a lot,” junior Mia Legato said. “And I’ve heard them talk about how hard it is to work out and be active because they get out of breath so easily, and they can’t stop coughing.”

Most of the fatal cases are tied to the use of THC pens and bootleg cartridges or pods. In a test conducted by a cannabis testing lab in California called CannaSafe, 12 out of 12 black-market THC cartridge samples contained pesticides. Other substances often found in off-brand THC liquids include heavy metals and lead, according to NBC.

“There are no long term studies yet looking at habitual use for both types of products,” Saint Luke’s pulmonologist Andrew Schlachter said. “I am not convinced that THC itself is a culprit molecule for lung injury, but rather the chemicals and manufacturing processes of illegal and ‘black market’ products that are more likely the cause of these serious and sometimes fatal cases.”

The risk involved with THC is due to the presence of lipids, such as coconut oil and vitamin E acetate, that are not found in e-cigarettes. These lipids can coat the user’s lungs in just a few uses, forming an irreversible, fatty coating that can ultimately lead to lipoid pneumonia. This disease is equivalent to longterm suffocation, according to Wigand.

“Pathology from the Mayo Clinic suggests that the nicotine is actually burning the lining of the lungs,” Wigand said.

Of 131 Students Polled:

119 Know someone who vapes underage

89 Know someone who is addicted to vaping

52 Know a minor who uses a TCH pen

122 Consider vaping an epidemic

THE AMOUNT OF NICOTINE IN 20 CIGARETTES EQUALS THE SAME AMOUNT IN ONE JUUL POD, (according to Juul.com)

Youth targeting

With the growing number of deaths and hospitalizations surrounding vape usage, state and federal governments are cracking down on the sale and advertisement of vapes and e-cigarettes.

In September of 2018, the FDA first called teen vaping “an epidemic” in a statement that urged e-cigarette manufacturers to address the problem or risk having their products being pulled from the market.

“I would caution anyone, teens or adults, on the dangers of nicotine independent of vaping,” Schlachter said. “As a lung doctor I cannot condone smoking anything, even if through a vape pen."

At the center of the FDA’s war on e-cigarettes is Juul Labs. The e-cigarette manufacturing giant has been the subject of numerous lawsuits, investigations and controversies in recent years. One of the most popular e-cigarettes currently on the market, Juul has primarily been associated with underage vaping, according to Time magazine.

Juul has frequently come under fire for deliberately marketing to a younger audience. Juul’s “Vaporized” advertisement launch campaign in 2015 featured younger models wearing clothes popular among teenagers and posing with smiles on their faces and Juuls in their hands. It presented Juul as a trendy, fun and modern product for the modern generation.

“I honestly think that the problem was caused more by Juul’s marketing than actual Juuls themselves,” Legato said. “Advertising toward teens when they really should be advertising toward adults is something the government has to regulate better.”

Juul’s social media presence in its early days largely contributed to its popularity among adolescents, according to a study done by the Stanford University School of Medicine. The report, published in early 2019, found that Juul relied heavily on “hashtag marketing,” or the use of social media hashtags to promote and popularize a product, as a way to connect with and market to a younger audience. After analyzing the content of every Instagram post tagged with #juul from June 28 to July 4, 2018, the study found that 69% of posts had “youthful” attributes, 41% had “humorous” attributes, 31% were memes and 29% had some reference to popular culture.

“The company is trying to grasp the teens and make them use their product because of its sleek design and intriguing commercials,” freshman Audrey Kowalwich said.

Down with juul

The undeniable impact that Juul has made on adolescents has essentially made Juul Labs the public scapegoat of the underage vaping crisis. The government has emphasized holding the company accountable.

The crackdown began in late September of 2018, when FDA officials made an unannounced investigation into Juul Labs Headquarters in San Francisco, California. According to the agency’s statement, officials seized “over a thousand pages of documents” during their search for information about Juul’s sales and marketing practices.

On July 26, the World Health Organization issued a report concerning the global tobacco epidemic. In the report, WHO cited the resulting success following the introduction of Juul into the marketplace in 2015 as a cause for tobacco companies to invest more heavily in electronic nicotine delivery systems and the diversification of the e-cigarette market. WHO said that Juul is one of the “new industry players continuing to subvert tobacco control,” according to the report.

“I know that they’re not taking away mint, which is one of the most popular flavors. I feel like they’re taking away other flavors just to make it look like they’re doing something." Sophomore Kendall Brewer

“If someone chooses to vape knowing that it’s not safe, that’s on them. It’s not really the government’s job to say what we can and can’t put in our bodies.” Senior Samantha Shively

“Vaping is an epidemic because, like viruses, it spreads. Peer pressure, to me, would be the biggest reason why so many people do it.” Freshman Gwyn Johnson

WHAT'S IN A JUUL POD? JUUL LISTS ITS POD INGREDIENTS ON THEIR WEBSITE, BUT WHAT ARE THEY REALLY?

BENZOIC ACID ALSO IN: INSECT REPELLENT

PROPYLENE GLYCEROL ALSO IN: MOISTURIZER

GLYCEROL ALSO IN: ANTIFREEZE

These recent deaths have led to the suing of Juul Labs by several local school districts. The Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley school districts are the most recent to join the lawsuit, following the Olathe school district who moved to sue in September, according to the Kansas City Star. Underage vaping has swept the nation and is now putting the education of young minds at risk, according to Chief of Communication at SMSD David Smith.

“We’ve had students tell us that they’re struggling to get through the day without vaping,” Smith said. “You have kids dealing with the challenge of addiction. So, while we’re trying to engage them and get them paying attention to what’s happening in school, they’re trying to figure out how to sneak another puff of their vape.”

Less than a week after the first alleged vaping-related death in Illinois Aug. 23, it was revealed that the Federal Trade Commission had begun investigating whether Juul Labs used social media influencers and other marketing ploys to appeal to minors, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

“We brought it before the board some of the impacts we have already seen,” Smith said. "I think the board was convinced that vaping is something where the companies have been directly marketing to kids."

Congress held hearings on Juul and the e-cigarette crisis in early August, in which it was revealed that Juul programs targeted youth as young as 8 years old with its community and school programs, according to the hearing transcript. The Trump Administration announced its plan to ban all flavored e-cigarettes a month later in early September.

“What the industry has gone and done is targeted children,” Wigand said. “By having flavors like mango and coconut, they make vaping very appealing, and at the same time sort of removing the hurdle of bad taste that traditional nicotine users would have had to get over to inhale nicotine.”

Juul suspended all sales of “fruity” or “dessert-flavored” pod flavors Oct. 17 following the threat from the Trump Administration. However, this only accounts for about 10% of Juul sales, according to the Los Angeles Times. The most popular pod flavor among youth aged 18 to 20 years old is Cool Mint, according to Truth Initiative. Some believe this new legislature will have little effect on sales, according to QuikTrip public affairs manager Mike Thornbrugh.

“Who knows what it will look like at the end of the day when the law comes out, but again, it will affect everybody. Our philosophy is really really simple,” Thornbrugh said. “No matter what it is we're going to follow the spirit and letter of the law”

On Sept. 15, Juuls former Chief Executive Officer Kevin Burns stepped down, agreed to cooperate fully with government regulations, and denounced Juul use, according to the New York Post.

“The amount of kids I see addicted to these devices is unreal,” senior Stephanie Vince said. “More and more, I see people realize how bad these devices are for them.”

As deaths continue to rise, Juul and vaping altogether has become one of the central issues in American media and is not likely to go away any time soon.

“Because of how new and unknown the majority of this stuff is, it’s scary to think that half our generation could possibly be dead by age 30,” Legato said. “We don’t know whether or not vaping will kill people so much earlier and so much sooner than they should be dying."

Clouded judgment

Despite emerging facts and warnings about e-cigarette usage, there are still widespread misinformations and rumors surrounding what vaping is and exactly how much safer it is than traditional tobacco products like cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

“Since vaping is so new, no one really knows what the long term effects are,” freshman Sophie Gromowsky said. “I think that makes vaping an even bigger risk to users. And teenagers aren't equipped to make the decision of whether or not to vape for themselves because they don't fully comprehend the consequences of their actions.”

Some believe that vaping doesn’t have the ability to cause diseases. However, the ingredients in some vape juices can cause a wide variety of health issues, due to the wide variety of chemicals. Popcorn lung, pneumonia and general pulmonary and cardiac distress have been linked to vaping e-cigarettes and THC products, according to the FDA.

“My opinions on vaping have definitely changed since all the health risks came out,” sophomore Olivia Angles said. “I don’t want to do it and I don’t want anyone I know to do it either. I’m afraid someone I know could die.”

MOST POPULAR JUUL FLAVORS AMONG 12-17 YEAr olds*

COOL MINT 16%

MENTHOL 5%

*ACCORDING TO THE TRUTH INITITAVE

(Illustrations by Kennedy Wade, Infographics by Maggie McKinney and Avery Brundige)

FRUIT MEDLEY 26%

MANGO 25%