Dr. Karen M. Wilson, chair of the AAP Section on Tobacco Control and section head of Pediatric Hospital Medicine at Children’s Hospital Colorado, said the reason that why the growing popularity of e-cigarettes among adolescents is so risky to their long-term health is that the developing brains of children and teens are vulnerable to nicotine.
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“Communities across the state have already taken a few great steps to protect our young people, we’ve got communities like Petersburg, Sitka, Kotzebue have increased their taxes on tobacco products including e-cigarettes, and those are great policies to really protect kids and to keep the e-cigarettes out of the hands of kids”, Kulas said.
A recent study by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services shows one in three teenagers in Alaska are using a few type of tobacco product. “We need more research before we can say for sure that e-cigarettes can be useful for people trying to kick the smoking habit”. The AAP policy statement urges the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration to regulate e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems the same as other tobacco products.
According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, more than 3,700 children exposed to liquid nicotine were reported at poison control centers in 2014. According to the study authors, as little as half a teaspoon can be fatal if swallowed by an average sized toddler. “These enforcement actions will send a powerful message to all retailers that there are real consequences for repeatedly violating the law”, Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement. “Flavored tobacco products have become increasingly common in the United States and are especially attractive to youth”.
According to Reuters, 80 percent of the youth who have used tobacco in the last 30 days answered that they used flavor ones and 60 percent of cigarette users.
In addition, the AAP raises doubts about the effectiveness and safety of e-cigarettes as quitting tools. The agency says parents shouldn’t use e-cigarettes around their children, since the organization says the vapor from the e-cigarettes can contain toxic chemicals.
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“Most adolescents don’t use just one nicotine product but will commonly use or experiment with several”, Dr. Harold Farber, pulmonologist at Texas Children’s Hospital, said via Health Day.
