American Lung Association combats e-cigarette use by teens on World No Tobacco Day.

The Drum – May 31, 2019

By Kyle O’Brien

World No Tobacco Day is May 31, and even as tobacco use is down among teens, e-cigarette use is rising at an alarming rate — to where the US Surgeon General is calling it an epidemic. To combat its use, the American Lung Association in Pennsylvania is launching a campaign to cut down on vaping.

According to the Lung Association, every day last year in the US, more than 5,700 kids started using e-cigarettes (vaping). Additionally, e-cigarette use increased 78% among high school students and 48% among middle school students from 2017 to 2018.

‘The Vape Talk,’ is a new anti-vaping campaign, launched on World No Tobacco Day and created by Cramer-Krasselt. It features children asking parents to talk to them about the dangers of vaping while they are still listening.

The campaign includes billboards and digital and social media advertising in targeted cities throughout Pennsylvania. It also features a downloadable discussion guide, ‘The Vape Talk’ Parent Discussion Guide, available at TheVapeTalk.Org, where parents can learn more about the health risks of e-cigarettes and how to address the topic with their children.

“Contrary to popular belief, vaping is not just inhaling flavored water vapor. E-cigarettes are highly addictive and include a multitude of toxins and carcinogens that may cause irreversible lung damage. One cartridge of the most commonly used e-cigarette among youth – Juul – contains as much nicotine as 20 cigarettes,” says Albert Rizzo, MD, FACP, chief medical officer at the American Lung Association. “E-cigarettes are actively marketed to kids by the tobacco industry, and, as a result, are the tobacco product most commonly used by and highly misunderstood among youth. ‘The Vape Talk’ encourages parents to talk with their kids about the dangers of vaping before they become addicted.”