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Addicting Kids

TikTok trend exposes health dangers of vaping

Published Dec 19, 2022
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TikTok and Facebook application on screen

TikTok trend exposes the dark side of vaping

Chest pains. Ventilators. Collapsed lungs. Life support. Young people are warning each other about the dangerous and painful effects of vaping by doing what they do best – sharing their personal stories on TikTok.

One 23-year-old TikToker went viral in July 2022 after posting a video about her painful experience from lung surgery after her lung collapsed. Vaping contributed to her health problems which left her hospitalized and using inhalers for weeks post-surgery.

Social media is filled with examples of young people exposing the damage that vaping has done to their bodies. Many are sharing photos and videos from hospital beds, speaking up about the scary health crises they’ve faced from using vapes, and pledging to kick the habit for good.

The tobacco industry makes vapes in kid-friendly flavors that mask the harsh taste and high nicotine content of the products. A staggering 96 percent of California kids who vape use flavors – and once they’re addicted it can become a lifelong struggle.12 The tobacco industry’s plan: get customers addicted to vapes, and they are likely to try other products.34 Teens who vape are three times more likely to become daily cigarette smokers.5

Tobacco industry organization front groups like Foundation for a Smokefree World have worked hard on slick PR campaigns to convince people that their vaping products are much safer than cigarettes.6 The result: a tobacco industry-created youth vaping epidemic.7 Marketing these products as safer lured many young people into a lifetime of addiction and disease.89 The tobacco industry tricks young people into thinking that vaping is “safer”10 than smoking but it only takes some scrolling on social media to see firsthand the damage vaping can cause. Young people are fighting against the tobacco industry’s manipulation and deceit by exposing the truth about vaping and reaching an audience of millions.

One young woman, who used vapes for more than four years, went viral with a video viewed 29 million times about being hospitalized for two weeks and ending up on life support.

“When I woke up from the surgery I asked the nurse if this is what death is… it was one of the most horrific pains I have ever experienced.” – @gracejohanna

@gracejohanna Please stop vaping #fyp ♬
“When I woke up from the surgery I asked the nurse if this is what death is… it was one of the most horrific pains I have ever experienced.” – @gracejohanna
“It’s currently 4:30am. I was fine last night until suddenly I couldn’t breathe and had chest pains. 5 years of vaping and I’ll never touch it again” – @bellaspresent

Vapes have been engineered by the tobacco industry to maximize addictiveness by delivering a highly concentrated form of nicotine11 – a chemical that is as addictive as heroin.12 Vaping is so addictive that young users start using more and more – resulting in serious damage to the brain and body.13

But nicotine isn’t the only danger. E-cigarettes contain toxic chemicals with health risks we are only beginning to understand. Vape use has been linked to an increased risk of stroke and serious chronic illnesses like COPD, heart attacks, and heart disease, and may increase the risk of lung cancer.1415172324252627 Vaping is known to increase the risk of heart damage,16 cause lung inflammation,17 and induce nausea.18 Chemicals found in e-liquid may impair the heart’s ability to pump blood19 and are linked to a dangerous respiratory disease known as popcorn lung.20

It’s nearly impossible for our young people to escape exposure to dangerous tobacco industry products. In California, there’s a store that sells tobacco for every 293 kids – that’s twelve times more stores that sell tobacco than Starbucks.2122

This is the moment to break the cycle of addiction. We have the power to create a better future in California, and that starts with keeping Big Tobacco from targeting our kids for disease and death.

Quitting tobacco is difficult. Anyone looking to quit vaping can text “I Can Quit” to 66819 or visit KickItCA.org to join the free text messaging program.

“When flavored air put you in the hospital for 2 weeks and life support for 4 days.” – @chocolatecandle26

“When flavored air put you in the hospital for 2 weeks and life support for 4 days.” – @chocolatecandle26
  1. Zhu S-H, Braden K, Zhuang Y-L, Gamst A, Cole AG, Wolfson T, Li S. (2021). Results of the Statewide 2019-20 California Student Tobacco Survey. San Diego, California: Center for Research and Intervention in Tobacco Control (CRITC), University of California San Diego
  2. U.S. Surgeon General. Surgeon General’s Advisory on E-cigarette Use Among Youth. ecigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov. https://e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/documents/surgeon-generals-advisory-on-e-cigarette-use-among-youth-2018.pdf Accessed September 12, 2022.
  3. Leventhal AM, Strong DR, Kirkpatrick MG, et al. Association of electronic cigarette use with initiation of combustible tobacco product smoking in early adolescence. JAMA. 2015;314(7):700-707. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.8950
  4. Maloney J. Against All Odds, the U.S. Tobacco Industry Is Rolling in Money; Profits are booming, despite government regulation, huge legal settlements and fewer smokers. The Wall Street Journal. April 27, 2017. Accessed March 11, 2019.
  5. Pierce JP, Chen R, Leas EC, et al. Use of E-cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products and Progression to Daily Cigarette Smoking. Pediatrics. 2021;147(2):e2020025122. doi:10.1542/peds.2020-025122.
  6. American Cancer Society. What do we know about e-cigarettes? cancer.org. Revised November 21, 2018. Accessed September 15, 2022.
  7. U.S. Surgeon General. Surgeon General’s Advisory on E-cigarette Use Among Youth. ecigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov. https://e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/documents/surgeon-generals-advisory-on-e-cigarette-use-among-youth-2018.pdf Accessed September 12, 2022.
  8. Kirkham C. Juul disregarded early evidence it was hooking teens. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/juul-ecigarette/. Published November 5, 2019. Accessed February 4, 2020.
  9. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Flavored Tobacco Products Attract Kids. tobaccofreekids.org. https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0383.pdf. Published September 1, 2021. Accessed October 4, 2021.
  10. American Cancer Society. What do we know about e-cigarettes? cancer.org. Revised November 21, 2018. Accessed September 15, 2022.
  11. Taylor, A, Dunn, K, Turfus, S. A review of nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes—Trends in use, effects, contents, labelling accuracy and detection methods. Drug Test Anal. 2021; 13: 242– 260. https://doi.org/10.1002/dta.2998
  12. https://www.ucsfhealth.org/conditions/nicotine-dependence
  13. U.S. Surgeon General. Surgeon General’s Advisory on E-cigarette Use Among Youth. ecigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov. https://e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/documents/surgeon-generals-advisory-on-e-cigarette-use-among-youth-2018.pdf Accessed September 12, 2022.
  14. Bracken-Clarke D, Kapoor D, Baird AM, et al. Vaping and lung cancer - A review of current data and recommendations. Lung Cancer. 2021;153:11-20. doi:10.1016/j.lungcan.2020.12.030
  15. Fowles J, Barreau T, Wu N. Cancer and Non-Cancer Risk Concerns from Metals in Electronic Cigarette Liquids and Aerosols. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(6):2146.
  16. Vindhyal MR, Ndunda P, Munguti C, Vindhyal S, Okut H. Impact on Cardiovascular Outcomes Among E-cigarette Users: A Review From National Health Interview Surveys. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2019;73(9):Supplement 2. doi: 10.1016/S0735-1097(19)33773-8.
  17. Gotts JE, Jordt SE, McConnell R, Tarran R. What are the respiratory effects of e-cigarettes? [published correction appears in BMJ. 2019 Oct 15;367:l5980]. BMJ. 2019;366:l5275. Published 2019 Sep 30. doi:10.1136/bmj.l5275.
  18. American Lung Association. What It Means to be “Nic-Sick” [blog post]. lung.org. https://www.lung.org/blog/nic-sick. Published October 2, 2019.
  19. Nystoriak MA, Kilfoil PJ, Lorkiewicz PK, Conklin DJ, Bhatnagar A. Abstract 20782: Arrhythmic Risk Evaluation of Native and Combusted Tobacco Flavor Additives in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes, Circulation. 2017;136(suppl_1).
  20. Allen JG, Flanigan SS, LeBlanc M, et al. Flavoring Chemicals in E-Cigarettes: Diacetyl, 2,3 Pentanedione, and Acetoin in a Sample of 51 Products, Including Fruit-, Candy-, and Cocktail-Flavored E-Cigarettes. Environ Health Perspect. 2015;124(6):733-9.
  21. California Dept. of Finance, Population Estimates and Projections (May 2020); U.S. Census Bureau, Population and Housing Unit Estimates (Jul. 2020).
  22. Starbucks map of America: Which states have the most locations? https://slate.com/business/2014/04/starbucks-map-of-america-which-states-have-the-most-locations.html. Accessed March 21, 2022.
  23. Shehata SA, Toraih EA, Ismail EA, Hagras AM, Elmorsy E, Fawzy MS. Vaping, Environmental Toxicants Exposure, and Lung Cancer Risk. Cancers (Basel). 2023;15(18):4525. Published 2023 Sep 12. doi:10.3390/cancers15184525
  24. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Committee on the Review of the Health Effects of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems; Eaton DL, Kwan LY, Stratton K, editors. Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2018 Jan 23. 10, Cancers. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507174/
  25. Auschwitz E, Almeda J, Andl CD. Mechanisms of E-Cigarette Vape-Induced Epithelial Cell Damage. Cells. 2023;12(21):2552. doi: 10.3390/cells12212552.
  26. Tommasi S, Blumenfeld H, Besaratinia A. Vaping Dose, Device Type, and E-Liquid Flavor are Determinants of DNA Damage in Electronic Cigarette Users. Nicotine Tob Res. 2023;25(6):1145-1154. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntad003.
  27. Shields PG, Berman M, Brasky TM, et al. A Review of Pulmonary Toxicity of Electronic Cigarettes in the Context of Smoking: A Focus on Inflammation. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2017;26(8):1175-1191. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-17-0358.

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