While vaping is regarded by some as a harmless smoking alternative, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, A.K.A. Dr. Paul, says there are serious concerns related to the habit, especially when it comes to teens. “Initially, we thought it was safer than cigarettes, because you don’t have all the combustible chemicals that cigarettes ring off,” Dr. Paul told CTV Your Morning Ottawa on Wednesday. “But now, there’s more evidence that it can cause harms as well, particularly among young people.” Dr. Paul says vapes are essentially “e-cigarettes.” A small battery steams up liquid with nicotine in it, and much like cigarettes, this heated chemical mixture is absorbed by the user. However, instead of absorbing smoke like cigarette users, vape users inhale steam. Also, unlike cigarettes, Dr. Paul says vape users tend to absorb more nicotine. “You inhale a lot, let’s say there’s 50 milligrams of nicotine, your body will absorb half of that, much more than a cigarette,” Dr. Paul said. While vaping was initially regarded as a smoking cessation tool, Dr. Paul says many teens are picking up vaping without ever smoking. “So, they’re not using it as a smoking cessation tool,” Dr. Paul said. “The guidelines now say that it may be a smoking cessation tool, but only for people who have smoked.” Dr. Paul says marketing has made nicotine vaporizer products appealing to youths and today, approximately 25 to 30 per cent of teens vape, which is much higher than the five per cent who smoke cigarettes. “I was just at a conference on Monday, where I spoke to about one hundred school principals from all over Ontario, and they were all freaking out, literally worried about the high rates of teens vaping even grade seven eight,” Dr. Paul said. When it comes to youths, Dr. Paul says the harms of vaping are two-fold. “It’s only been a couple of years that we’ve been studying it, but more and more, people have been showing that it can cause lung damage as well, just like cigarettes,” Dr. Paul said. Second, similarly to cannabis smoking in youths, Dr. Paul vaping can cause developmental brain damage in teens. “In adolescent brains, the nicotine actually changes some of the nerves and really mis-forms the brain,” Dr. Paul said. “Some studies have shown that the mis-forming of the brain, may lead to more tendencies to have other addictions later on in life.” According to Dr. Paul, youths who vape are 700 per cent more likely to smoke later on in life.
