More than 5.6 million youth will face premature death because of vaping, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.
Laura Beth Turner, an assistant professor of nursing at the Mississippi University for Women, shared that “alarming” statistic Thursday with Heritage High School students during a program focused on the dangers of vaping.
“Vaping is highly marketed toward young people,” she said.
She outlined health issues vaping can cause such as bronchiolitis obliterans, or popcorn lung.
“We anticipate that we will see long term lung damage over time, just as we did with cigarette smoking because of the harmful ingredients found in vape solutions,” Turner said. “Many vape solutions contain things such as formaldehyde or antifreeze, so loads of carcinogens.”
Turner explained that inhaling carcinogens can increase inflammation in the respiratory tract.
“So even if they aren’t having any side effects at a young age, it doesn’t mean that down the road we won’t see long term consequences,” she said. “Generally what happens with a carcinogen is repetitive exposure over time leads to detrimental results.”
Turner encouraged students that do not vape to avoid it, adding that there are resources available to students that want to quit vaping.
“If you have (started vaping), please contact an adult,” Turner said. “There are people that care about you. We love you more than we hate the thing you’re doing.”
For parents concerned about their children vaping, Turner recommended being aware of all the resources available.
“There’s all sorts of stuff out there,” she said. “There’s quitting resources, and there are preventative resources as well for teachers and school counselors and parents who just solely want to know and gain knowledge for prevention purposes.”
Guidance counselor Amanda Shelton said it is important for students to have these conversations at school.
“We have these programs because we want to educate our students,” Shelton said. “If it’s something that might not be talked about at home as much, then the school can do these tough topics and talk about it here.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion