Think tobacco use has disappeared as a threat to our children’s health? It hasn’t. About one in three Colorado high school students are using nicotine. Most of them don’t smoke cigarettes or use chew tobacco, they’re doing something new. It’s called vaping.

The “smokeless” form of inhaling tobacco called “vaping” is being sold as a means of weaning adults from cigarettes. The disturbing reality appears to be the opposite. Not only can vaping keep longtime users hooked on nicotine — it also is luring a whole new generation of youth back to this highly addictive drug.

The tobacco industry is manufacturing and promoting an inherently hazardous, addictive product — in an array of flavors — that appears glamorous and sexy to teens. And this time, users are being told it’s harmless.

The facts — hard data emerging from scientific research — paint a far more troubling picture.

Almost all vaping products deliver the same nicotine found in cigarettes, and it’s just as addictive. A 2015 study found 99 percent of e-cigarettes sold in U.S. contained nicotine. When teens vape, they can — and do — become addicted and start craving it, just like cigarettes. One of the most popular vapor products in the market — JUUL products — have more than half of the total e-cigarette market share, and all contain nicotine at high levels. This product is easy to conceal and looks like a flash drive, making it very popular among youth.

And research shows vaping nicotine can damage teens’ brains, decreasing working memory and increasing rates of depression and anxiety. The human brain is still growing and changing during the teenage years, and nicotine can hurt the way teenagers’ brains develop. Nicotine can make it harder for children to learn and pay attention, and may make them more likely to develop an addiction later on.

Vaping is not as closely regulated as cigarettes and other tobacco products — so you can’t be sure what chemicals the products contain. Vaping companies don’t have to follow safety guidelines for devices or tell you the ingredients they put in e-liquid. Major medical organizations and health journals, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, support regulations on the sale and advertising of vaping devices.

Vaping leads to cigarette smoking. Research has concluded that students who vape by the time they start ninth grade are more likely than their peers to start smoking traditional cigarettes within the next year. A study of 12th-grade students who had never smoked a cigarette found that those who had reported recent vaping were more than four times more likely to report past-year smoking one year later.

I am alarmed by the spread of vaping. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s 2017 Healthy Kids Colorado survey showed almost half of children surveyed experimented with this addictive product, and one in four had vaped in the past 30 days. As a public health official and a parent, I’m concerned. While federal regulators have begun the lengthy and deliberative process of tightening regulations, I encourage parents to protect our children from a lifetime of addiction.

One thing we can do is raise awareness and teach our children about harmful effects of nicotine. Your child already may be vaping without your knowledge. Tobacco Free Colorado has developed a helpful resource to further educate parents and their kids, including FAQs as well as fact sheets on subjects like talking to kids about vaping and vaping myths. Get the facts so you can have a chat with your child about vaping.

We can’t afford to wait until this form of tobacco use takes on the same epidemic proportions that cigarettes did among our youth. Let’s save the next generation now.

Tista Ghosh is the deputy chief medical officer at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

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