The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is working with local public health and health care providers to investigate reports of severe lung illness potentially related to vaping and e-cigarette use among teens and adults. With similar reports coming from other states in recent weeks, MDH is partnering with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to determine a cause and what steps may be taken to prevent additional illness. To date approximately 200 cases have been reported from multiple states. Many of the patients report having vaped THC (a component of cannabis) purchased on the black market.
What have we found so far?
In Minnesota, symptoms have resulted in hospitalizations lasting from days to weeks, with some patients admitted to intensive care units. Symptoms included shortness of breath, fever, cough, vomiting and diarrhea. Some patients also reported headache, dizziness, and chest pain.
What are we doing about it?
In addition to working with CDC and other states, MDH is partnering with health care providers to investigate the reports. Use of illegal marijuana-based products were reported by those interviewed. We are asking providers to report similar cases.
What can Minnesotans do to protect themselves and their loved ones?
People with lung symptoms after vaping should seek clinical care and avoid e-cigarettes or other vaping products, as continued use may lead to worsening symptoms. People should avoid vaping non-medical cannabis-based products since ingredients in these products are unknown.
What else do we know about this?
E-cigarettes, vapes, e-pipes and other vaping products are battery-powered devices that allow users to inhale aerosolized liquid. E-cigarettes typically contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and harmful to the adolescent brain. In addition, e-cigarette aerosol contains harmful substances, such as ultrafine particles, oil, and heavy metals like nickel, tin and lead.
The U.S. Surgeon General has called teen e-cigarette use an epidemic. The 2017 Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey found that nearly 20% of high-school students use e-cigarettes and 40% have tried them. In addition, 34.7% of high school students and 15.8% of middle school students who use e-cigarettes have used an e-cigarette for recreational marijuana, THC or hash oil, or THC wax at least once.
To get updates on our investigation or to learn more, please visit the Minnesota Department of Health website at www.health.state.mn.us.
Report suspected cases to MDH at 651-201-4237 or 651-201-5449
With the innovations in technology many of us have become addicted to electronic devices: computers, smart phones or other mobile devices.
Now add another one to the list: e-cigarettes or vaping devices.
Introduced in 2007, e-cigs are a rapidly growing market and vaping is becoming a growing concern locally – especially in the past two years and especially among young people.
“Tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, opioids – whatever comes up, they eventually hit here on the west side of the Twin Cities,” said Ben Karnes, Waconia schools’ security monitor and member of the HERO Coalition, a local partnership of parents, educators and community leaders whose mission is to prevent use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs among youth. READ FULL ARTICLE
From historic lows to historic highs: Minnesota’s youth using nicotine again
One in five young Minnesotans has used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days.
Vaping may help some people quit cigarettes, but what about the nicotine?
The findings add new evidence to the debate over whether e-cigarettes help people stop smoking
Report Finds Disturbing Failure to Stop Underage Smoking, Vaping
The legal age to buy tobacco should be raised to 21 and flavored e-cigarettes should be removed from the market, the American Lung Association says.
Debate Will Heat Up in 2019 Over Vaping, E-Cigarettes
Flavored products, as well as marketing to teenagers, are among the issues flaring up.
Most of what we know about nicotine addiction in teens, we know from cigarettes. But experts say the technology and chemistry of vaping might pose an entirely different threat.
Patrick O’Connor, MD, Yale Medicine’s chief of general internal medicine, who has dedicated his career to researching opioid and alcohol drug abuse, points to similarities between epidemic cigarette use in the 1940s and 50s, and e-cigarette use now.
15,500 tobacco flavors and counting… A new site from ClearWay Minnesota
Elijah Stewart first heard about the Juul three years ago, during his sophomore year of high school.
Many of his friends had started sucking on the e-cigarette that resembles a USB flash drive. It was suddenly a lot more socially acceptable, even cool, “to Juul” than to smoke cigarettes.
Stewart was an occasional cigarette smoker when he began experimenting with Juul. Very quickly, he felt he was addicted. “After about a week, you feel like you need to puff on the Juul,” he says. “To some people, it is like a baby pacifier, and they freak out when it’s not near.”
Electronic smoking devices (ESDs) do not just emit “harmless water vapor.” Secondhand aerosol (incorrectly called vapor by the industry) from ESDs contains nicotine, ultrafine particles and low levels of toxins that are known to cause cancer. no-smoke.org
Unlike the typical tobacco cigarette, which is made of paper, tobacco and a filter, each e-cigarette has five different components—residual nicotine, plastic, lithium batteries, aluminum, and fabric, each of which has to be disassembled and recycled separately.
Truth Initiative surveyed a national sample of more than 1,000 12- to 17-year-olds in April 2018 and found that nearly three quarters — 74 percent — of youth said that they obtained JUUL at a store or retail outlet. Just over half — 52 percent — reported that they received JUUL from a social source, such as a friend or family member.
The same day federal agencies released data reporting a 78 percent increase in high school students who currently use e-cigarettes in just the last year, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a plan to address the e-cigarette epidemic and curb youth use of other flavored tobacco products.
Vaping primarily means using an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette, e-cig, mod, vape pen, tank system, e-hookah) or other vaping devices as a nicotine delivery system. The user activates the device via pressure sensor inhalation or by pushing a button—inhales (takes a hit) or “vapes” like a smoker would inhale a cigarette. The nicotine in e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes is addictive. E-cigarettes are considered tobacco products because most of them contain nicotine, which comes from tobacco.
Juuling means to use a Juul brand nicotine delivery system as your vaping device. Juul is a vaping device that looks similar to a USB drive. Juul products (and many other vaping devices) are easy for students to conceal and use in school — sometimes even in hallways or a classroom setting.
Vaping devices are metal casings with a mouthpiece, a cartridge (or tank that houses the e-liquid, e-juice or juice), a battery, a microprocessor and an atomizer. The battery-powered atomizer, a small heating element that vaporizes e-liquid via a wicking material, draws liquid onto the coil producing an aerosol mist or vapor for inhalation (‘vaping’). Vaping devices are pictured above.
Vaping liquid is made up of four basic ingredients. 90% consists of the humectants propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerine—chemicals to vaporize the nicotine, additives and flavoring.
Nicotine addiction occurs in people who use tobacco products regularly or compulsively even when there are negative health consequences. Like other drugs of abuse, nicotine increases levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the reward circuits of the brain which reinforces the behavior of taking the drug. Repeated exposure alters these circuits’ sensitivity to dopamine and leads to changes in other brain circuits involved in learning, stress, and self-control. For many tobacco users, the long-term brain changes induced by continued nicotine exposure result in addiction, which involves withdrawal symptoms when not smoking, and difficulty adhering to the resolution to quit. –Read full-text: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Nicotine poisoning has become more prevalent, due in part to the pure liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes. Liquid nicotine poisoning often occurs from skin contact and ingestion.
In addition to nicotine e-cigarettes can contain harmful and potentially harmful ingredients; ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs, flavorings such as diacetyl, a chemical linked to Popcorn Lung, volatile organic compounds and heavy metals, such as nickel, tin, and lead.
NO VAPE WEEK—January 22, 23, 24 & 25, 2019
From District #110 January 25th Newsletter:
The HERO Coalition has been working with Waconia High School students to increase awareness of the harmful health outcomes of vaping and addiction to nicotine. This was “No-Vape” awareness week at the high school. Student-driven events were showcased during lunch times. Vaping has been recognized as a national epidemic. With a 73% rise in underage use just last year, this is now creating a higher tobacco use for the first time in a decade. We are encouraging all parents to have the caring conversation that address the real health concerns and well-being of our children around this alarming trend.
NO VAPE WEEK
NO VAPE WEEK, a week-long vaping awareness event at Waconia High School was held daily during the lunch hour from January 22-25, 2019.
The goal of the event was to expose the known and unknown risks of vaping.
Resources for Parents
- E-cigarettes and Other Vaping Products – Minnesota Department of Health
- Know the Risks Surgeon General
- “E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults” Fact Sheet – Surgeon General
- “E-Cigarettes and Teens: A Guide for Parents and Educators” – Safe Kids America
- Kid’s Health: Smoking – UNC Health Care
- “Concerns Explode Over New Health Risks of Vaping” – Science News for Students
- U.S. E-Cigarette Regulations – 50 State Review – Public Health Law Center
- Quick Facts About JUUL, The High Nicotine Product Hiding In Plain Sight – UTHealth
E-Liquid Ingredients: You May Not Know What You’re Vaping – Breathe Pennsylvania
- Tips for Teens: E-Cigarettes to get answers to questions on e-cigarette use teens might be hesitant to ask others.
- (2018) Youth Tobacco Use: Results from the 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey – U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- (2017) E-cigarette Ads and Youth – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- E-Cigarettes: A Review of New Trends in Cannabis Use –NCBI