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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Teen vaping linked with toxic lead exposure, study finds | |
By Kristen Rogers, CNN | |
Updated: | |
1:12 PM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Vaping has been known for its association and . Now, a new study, | |
building , has found that among teens, vaping often may spike the risk | |
of exposure to lead and uranium — potentially harming brain and organ | |
development in young people. | |
“This study analyzed a nationally representative sample of U.S. | |
adolescent e-cigarette use to examine whether urine metal levels (i.e., | |
cadmium, lead and uranium) differed by vaping frequency and flavor | |
types,” said Dr. Hongying Daisy Dai, senior author of in the journal | |
Tobacco Control, via email. | |
Vaping has slightly declined among teens. The use of e-cigarettes among | |
high schoolers decreased from 14.1% to 10% from 2022 to 2023, the | |
found. But for this group, the behavior has remained a public health | |
concern and the most popular form of consuming tobacco (in the form of | |
nicotine) since 2014, Dai said. | |
As of December 2023, only e-cigarette products are authorized by the US | |
Food and Drug Administration for sale in the United States, after the | |
agency effectively of cartridge-based vape pens except menthol and | |
tobacco to prevent young people from vaping. The ban, however, does not | |
include disposable e-cigarettes or their respective e-liquids, which | |
come in a variety of flavors. | |
Dai and coauthors found that among teens who vaped intermittently — | |
for six to 19 days total out of the past 30 days — urine lead levels | |
were 40% higher compared with occasional vapers, defined as one to | |
five days out of the past month. For those who vaped frequently — 20 | |
days or more — levels were 30% higher. And e-cigarette users who | |
preferred sweet flavors had higher levels of uranium in their urine | |
than those who favored menthol or mint flavor, said Dai, a professor in | |
the department of biostatistics at University of Nebraska Medical | |
Center. | |
Nearly 90% of youth who vape use flavored e-cigarettes, according to | |
the National Youth Tobacco Survey. | |
Given that e-cigarette aerosol is known to contain various potentially | |
harmful compounds , Dai wasn’t surprised by the findings, she said. | |
However, chronic exposure to metals, “even at low levels, can lead to | |
detrimental health impacts, affecting cardiovascular, renal, cognitive | |
and psychiatric functions,” she added. | |
The study was conducted at one point in time, so the authors couldn’t | |
control for chronic or long-term exposure. But “no form of tobacco | |
consumption is safe for young individuals,” Dai said. “Parents | |
should be aware of the harmfulness of e-cigarette use and advise their | |
children to quit vaping.” | |
The study’s findings are based on the responses and biospecimen | |
samples of 200 teens involved in the Population Assessment of Tobacco | |
and Health, or PATH, Youth Study from December 2018 to November 2019. | |
Vaping and health harms | |
Expert opinions on the findings are mixed. | |
“This is a well-conducted study underscoring the need to carefully | |
monitor exposure in e-cigarette users and highlights the fact that | |
e-cigarettes are not risk free,” said Dr. Lion Shahab, professor of | |
health psychology at University College London and codirector of the | |
UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, in a news release. | |
“However, these findings also need to be seen in context,” Shahab, | |
who wasn’t involved in the study, added. “Uranium specifically has | |
many different important sources of exposure (including food, water | |
connected to geographic location), which were not controlled for in | |
this analysis. Further, previous work has not found differences in | |
uranium exposure between non-users and users of e-cigarettes nor | |
detected uranium in e-cigarette aerosol, suggesting this finding may be | |
explained by other factors.” | |
Lead, however, has been detected in e-cigarette aerosol in previous | |
research, Shahab added. Yet the urine levels reported in this study, | |
even in frequent vapers, are below or similar to those found in the | |
general population and in adults who don’t vape. | |
“Nonetheless, it is important to note that no level of lead exposure | |
is safe,” Shahab said. | |
The authors acknowledged that their study is observational, meaning it | |
didn’t find a causal relationship between vaping and toxic metal | |
levels. | |
But the authors think the metals’ presence in participants’ urine | |
may be related to how e-cigarettes work. | |
“E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that generate aerosols by | |
heating a liquid solution with a metal coil,” Dai said. “This | |
heating process might result in the release of metal particles into the | |
liquid inhaled by e-cigarette users.” | |
Teens choose sweet flavors over others since the former can suppress | |
the harsh effects of nicotine, enhancing its reward effects, Dai said. | |
But knowing why this preference led to higher uranium exposure requires | |
more research. , however, did find ethyl maltol, an artificial | |
sweetener used in some vaping liquids that has the flavor of cotton | |
candy, can help transport heavy metals to cells and, when in the | |
presence of copper, could cause cells lining the lungs to die. | |
And “given that heavy metal exposure is mostly driven by the type of | |
device used,” Shahab said, “future studies should investigate | |
whether there are any meaningful differences between different | |
e-cigarette types to inform regulators, e.g., to curtail use of devices | |
that expose users to more heavy metals.” | |
If you want to stop vaping, or if you’re a parent or guardian who | |
wants to help your teen stop vaping, there are . | |
Knowing one’s personal reasons for quitting may help you make choices | |
conducive to your goal more than simply knowing about the health harms | |
can. Setting a quit date can aid you in mentally preparing for any | |
challenges. Working with a therapist can help you identify what your | |
triggers and challenges might be, and you can even make a based on your | |
daily life. | |
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