With teenage vaping on the rise, health officials target schools, shops | Local news

According to a youth assessment released last month, nearly 19 percent of high school students in Dane County said they were vaporized last month. This represents an increase of 16% three years ago.

Electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices that vaporize liquid nicotine are illegal in Wisconsin for people under 18 years of age. But as they do not involve the harmful risks of burning tobacco, they have been touted as a way to induce adult smokers to quit regular cigarettes.

Nicotine is highly addictive and harmful to brain development. However, vaping can expose users to heavy metals and chemicals, health officials said.

Studies have shown that teens who use electronic cigarettes are three times more likely to become cigarette smokers, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Many vaping liquids are offered in flavors – such as mango, bubble gum, cotton candy and "unicorn vomit" – that appeal to young people, health officials said. Officials are particularly concerned about Juul, an e-cigarette introduced in 2015 that looks like a USB key and can be easily concealed.

Juul has become so popular that many young people refer to vaping as "Juuling". More than 16 million Juul appliances were sold in retail stores last year, compared with 2 million the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week, the FDA seized documents related to sales and marketing during a surprise inspection at Juul Labs in San Francisco.

Juul devices produce nicotine salts that mimic the throat sensation of a regular cigarette, said Ryan Sheahan, program coordinator for the Tobacco Free Columbia Dane County Coalition.

"We are concerned that young people are never users who are starting to use this product because nicotine consumption is so strong," said Sheahan. "Nicotine goes directly to the brain. They become addicted faster and harder. "

The Madison School District has added vaping devices to its Behavior Education Plan this year, said Sally Zirbel-Donisch, Health Services Coordinator. Staff are being asked to confiscate the devices, and recurrence may result in suspension at the school, she said.

School nurses are starting to develop information about vaping for teachers and other staff, and training sessions are planned, Zirbel-Donisch said.

"The district is concerned," she said. "There are significant side effects for children."

Nina Gregerson, coordinator of health education with the Coalition for Tobacco Control in Dane County, said that a survey of Dane County schools revealed that near the half had not trained the staff to the vaping technique. All districts, however, have said they want help and the coalition intends to provide it.

The FDA, citing unpublished data showing a sharp increase in the vaping of minors, has changed its tone on electronic cigarettes. Gottlieb had previously stated that these devices could help adult smokers quit smoking, an unproven benefit that he believes should continue to be the focus of research.

But "the FDA will not tolerate that a whole generation of young people become addicted to nicotine to allow adults to have unhindered access to these same products," he said.

Mr Gottlieb said the agency would give the five largest electronic cigarette manufacturers until mid-November to explain how they will reduce the use of minors. The FDA has also released a list of more than 1,300 warning letters and fines to stores that have illegally sold electronic cigarettes to minors.

Of the 27 stores listed in Wisconsin, the closest to Madison are a Cenex gas station located on Water Street in Prairie du Sac and a BP gas station on 20th Avenue in Monroe.

Public Health The counties of Madison and Dane imposed six fines on five vape stores for selling electronic cigarettes to minors in 2015, and five fines on three stores in 2016. None were fined. Last year.

In 2015 and 2016, Azara Hookah and Knuckleheads stores, both located on State Street in Madison, and MadTown Vapor in Cambridge were fined more than once.

Rich Farrer, who works at Infinite Vapor on University Avenue, said the store is careful not to sell to minors. "We card everyone; it does not matter if you are 90 and you arrive with a cane, "he said.

The Health Avenue store did not fine the store. The company's location in the East Side on Atwood Avenue was fined in 2016.

A bill requiring retailers to store vaping products behind the counter with cigarettes was passed by the Senate last year but was not approved by the legislature.

Vaping was not added to the smoking ban inside the 2010 states. But 14 cities, including Madison and Milwaukee, ban the use of e-cigarettes at workplaces, including bars and restaurants, said Sahli, a member of the cancer society.

The counties of Dane and Florence, in northern Wisconsin, have similar policies. Five other cities and 21 other counties prohibit vaping in municipal properties.

Social housing in Madison became smoke-free and breezy in January, and some private complexes have adopted similar policies, Gregerson said.

Electronic cigarettes are part of the ban on smoking inside UW-Madison homes, but the university does not ban smoking or smoking outside, as do five Big Ten campuses said Sheahan.

The UW-Madison Tobacco Research and Intervention Center has conducted two studies on e-cigarettes.

In the first study, approximately 150 smokers, half of whom were also vaping, were asked to significantly reduce their smoking for one week and to stop smoking completely for a few days. Doug Jorenby, professor of medicine at UW-Madison and director of clinical services at the center, said those who smoked and smoked, known as dual users, were better at doing both.

However, exhaled levels of carbon monoxide, specific to smoking, were similar in both groups.

"If both users reduce their smoking, it's not enough to make a difference," said Jorenby.

The second study compares the health effects of 150 smokers and 250 dual-use users and investigates whether vaping changes smoking rates.

Scientists have identified genetic risk factors that could make some people more dependent on nicotine in adulthood if they were exposed to adolescence, Jorenby said. This, combined with studies showing that teenagers who abuse vape are more likely to become smokers, makes worrying the increase in the number of vapors in minors, he said.

"In adolescents, e-cigarettes may be at the origin of genetic risk factors that would otherwise remain dormant, and it seems that vaping is a pathway to smoking," he said.