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Vaping: Juul Related Illness

In today’s day and age, teens around the world are more hooked than ever on nicotine. The reasons for this, are either because kids are trying to fit in with classmates in the popular demand for a flavored buzz, or because you fell for the false advertising of Jull’s slogan “safe alternative to smoking”, either way healthy people in their teens are getting sick and/or dying because of lung failure. The community has often for years preached on how smoking is harmful especially to the lung, but there is a new wave of smoking, one that uses vapes and nicotine that are flavored. People believe that vapes may be more harmful than the cigarettes but fail to look at the bigger picture which is that vapes too contain nicotine. The problem of Juul related illnesses will be solved by educating students in school, raising the tax on nicotine, having better parental guidance, or by having stricter regulations through the FDA.   

There has been a surge on the number of people who have ended up hospitalized due to lung related problems. Medical officers have raised concern that the high number of death is because of the increase in the number of people who are using vapes. When e-cigarettes were introduced into the market, the manufacturers dabbed them as a safer option as compared to the cigarettes which had tobacco (Andrews). Juul Labs created a USB-size vaporizer and became a leading manufacturer as well as distributor of the e-cigarettes. The result of this creation was an increase in the number of teenagers who previously had used fewer tobacco products. In 2016, FDA made a rule to regulate the e-cigarettes as part of tobacco products creating a question on how safe vapes really were.

2019 was the year that real discussions on the effect of vapes took place. On November 22, 2019 president Trump held a discussion with relevant stakeholders on the increase in number of vape related cases as it was at 47. CDC has also pointed out that there have been 2290 cases of lung related damage by the vapes. With the national death toll rising the CDC is very quick to make an announcement stating that if you are afraid of these health repercussions then you should refrain from using any electronic cigarettes until further notice. Unsurprisingly, the news of these deaths has spread at startling speed, and people are scared (Carlos, pg. 13-14). A “mystery illness” is killing vapes, striking down young, otherwise-healthy people who see a rapid decline in their health, difficulty breathing, coughing, chest pain and more, with 6 of the 380-plus cases so resulting in death. This calls need to identify solutions that will help in tackling the issue of vape related illness as outlined below

Educating students through school could prevent addiction to the Juul, and the illnesses that can come with it. Schools have a responsibility to teach children healthy habits. The average kid spends 7.17 hours a day in school. During this time period, kids are taking every opportunity to Juul. The habit has become so bad that schools are having to add vape detectors and are going as far as taking off restroom doors in hopes of preventing the use of vapes in schools. With young teens who are under the impression that they have to fit in, it would be easy to be peer pressured into something that seems so harmless, and enjoyable without being educated about the long term effects (Barlie). Juul strives to appeal the younger generation so that they become lifelong loyal customers. They do this by using peer pressure tactics, like using the cool kid and colorful ads. One ad “features youthful models wearing crop tops and ripped jeans, flirting with the camera as they flaunted their Juul’s” to persuade teens that even the cool models are doing it. With kids spending the bulk of their day at school, this time could be used to educate kids on the effects of Juul, so that they don’t fall for the misleading advertisements that their peers are falling for. This being said, educating students through school, could prevent future addiction that could lead to illness, by informing kids before they are peer pressured by classmates.   

Raising the tax on nicotine could put a stop to a rising health problem for the future generation. Most teens wouldn’t be able to pay for the devices if the prices went up. “The tax policies that work in Sweden – raise taxes on the killer product while lowering them on the harm reduction products”. This could lead to not doing it all or just switching to a nicotine patch so that it would be easier to kick the Juul. Raising the tax on nicotine will discourage buyers because they will realize it is not worth the money. “Some young people have resorted to stealing from their parents or selling Juul paraphernalia to support their habits, addiction treatment specialists said”. Some pediatrician has even reported seeing “teens who behave less like tobaccos users and more like patients with substance-abuse disorders”. Although raising the tax on nicotine won’t put a stop to Juul related illnesses, it will slow down the epidemic and save a lot of young teen’s lives (Manolis, pg. 67-70).     

Having better parental guidance could install better judgment into kids so that they never get hooked.  Although the Juul is so new to society, many parents are not provided information about Juul and the health risk they bring. For instance, “one Juul pod delivers the same amount of nicotine as a pack of 20 cigarettes”. This being said if you vape one pod a day for a week, like four million American teens said they did then you would be smoking 140 cigarettes a week. Smoking 20 cigarettes a day carries a 40 to 50 percent of the risk for coronary heart disease or a stroke. Another reason would be because parents have a big role in teaching the kids right from wrong. If parents get ahead of the epidemic they could save their kid’s lungs. It would even be more effective if as a parent they aren’t previous smokers because their kids are less likely to turn to Juul and this will keep them from catching Diseases. In conclusion, as more and more teens are getting sick from the Juul it only seems right that there should be more parental guidance so that these teens are guided in the right direction and not down the road of regrets.  

Having harder regulations through the FDA could fix the mass numbers of juul related illnesses that are growing and growing every day. Most teens believe Juul are a safe alternative to smoking because that’s what they were told. Although “Vaping – linked illnesses have put healthy people in the hospital with serious lung diseases; The latest federal data shows that they’re more than 2000 cases across every state but Alaska connected to the jewel. With over 2000 open cases over every state with Alaska, they should push the FDA to put an end to this before it’s too late for the future generation. Juul should also be banned for not following FDA regulations. One student testified before Congress in July that Angel representative visited his ninth-grade classroom in 2017 and told the students that the Juul didn’t want them as customers it’s product was totally safe and harmless. These false claims should be taken very seriously by the FDA for this being the reason they’re young teens that should be at the healthiest point in their lives there now getting double lung replacements (Farrimond, pg. 81-90).

There should also be more research done on the products being used in creation of the vapes. CDC recently reported that the vitamin E acetate being used in the vapes may likely to have contributed to the lung related issues. According to a test conducted on the lung fluid that was obtained from 29 patients, it was evident that vitamin E acetate was present. Vitamin E acetate is an addictive component as some THC products have it. The lack of evidence on what is really contained in these vapes that is really causing the illnesses has remained a mystery. Department of Health as well as the Liquor and Cannabis boards as asked the processing companies not to sell products with vitamin E acetate until a conclusive agreement is arrived at. New York attorney general Letitia James has also sued Juul Labs for using deceptive methods in marketing their products to minors yet the product is not completely safe for use. By glamourizing vaping through its marketing, Juul Labs is attracting more customers to use their products that are not completely safe.

In conclusion, the FDA should penalize or even band for all the false advertising has lied to over 2000 nationwide Juul related illnesses in almost every state. It is crystal clear that vaping s no longer a safer option to use as compared to nicotine smoking. Although measures should be taken to ban the use of e-cigarettes, it is for a fact that more research needs to be done on what is really causing this mystery illness as many do not seem to understand it.

Works Cited

Andrews, Travis. “CDC: Roughly Tenfold Increase in Use of e-Cigarettes by Teens in Just 4 Years.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Apr. 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/15/cdc-report-roughly-tenfold-increase-in-use-of-e-cigarettes-by-high-school-and-middle-school-students-in-just-4-years/.

Barlie, Nancy M. “How to Deal with Kids Vaping and the E-Cigarette Epidemic.” Hey Teach!, 6 Nov. 2018, https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/how-deal-kids-vaping-and-e-cigarette-epidemic1811.html.

Carlos, W. Graham, et al. “Vaping-associated pulmonary illness (VAPI).” American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 200.7 (2019): P13-P14.

Farrimond, Hannah. “A typology of vaping: Identifying differing beliefs, motivations for use, identity and political interest amongst e-cigarette users.” International Journal of Drug Policy 48 (2017): 81-90.

Manolis, Antonis S., and Theodora A. Manolis. “Vaping and Puffing: Know your Risks/Your Life is in Danger.” Rhythmos 14.4 (2019): 67-70.