- Welcome back keeping tobacco products
out of the hands of minors.
It continues to be a hot topic as the popularity
of E-cigarettes,
and vaping continues to rise just last week.
In fact, we told you about tobacco 21
an ordinance the city of Youngstown
is considering which would raise the minimum age
to buy tobacco in the city to 21 years old.
And if you remember our own Caroline Collins
told us recently about a hot trend called Juuling.
It's a discrete electronic device
that can be charged up in a laptop.
Some students even smoking this nicotine-packed e-juice
in school just because of how discreet that it is.
A very timely subject matter as we welcome
in Dr. Jonathan Winecoff this morning.
Good morning.
- Thanks for having me.
- Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Now you're a pediatrician
with Massachusetts General Children's Hospital.
You're here in town speaking with clinical staff
from what we've learned at Akron Children's Hospital.
Tell me a little bit about your visit?
- So we're going to be covering third hand smoke
and electronic cigarette use
and as a general pediatrician,
what we've been seeing is a lot of kids
who are addicted to these new products.
And we want to make sure that everyone understands
what they are and how we can prevent kids
who were never be smokers otherwise entering
into nicotine addiction because of these products.
- Very hot topic for sure.
Could you first start off by giving us what is
the definition of third hand smoke,
we've all heard of secondhand smoke.
But what is this third hand smoke?
- So third hand smoke is once the cigarette is put out,
it turns out that there's toxins in the air that stick
and linger on fabrics on clothing,
really anywhere that a cigarette or Vape product is used,
gets coated in nicotine and toxins.
And these include class one carcinogens,
the most carcinogenic substances known.
So there's really no place where you can smoke
that won't contaminate the environment.
And that's true for vaping.
So anywhere that smoke free,
has to also be vape free.
- What trends are we seeing out there right now
with children and these e-cigarettes and
vaping and even a new trend Juuling?
- Not a day goes by in my clinical practice
where I don't see a teen who's come in
and can't stop Juuling.
I had one kid yesterday,
yesterday morning before I flew in,
who told me that they had to keep it under
their pillow so that they could get their fix at night.
This substance is extremely addictive.
It's not just that they've taken some nicotine
from tobacco and put it in and then you vape it?
No, they've actually chemically engineered
the nicotine to make it more addictive.
They've made it smoother.
These ultra fine aerosols go deep into the lung,
bringing with it the carcinogens
and heavy metals right into your body.
And there's really no safe way to do this,
especially for the developing brain.
- You brought a Juul pen in with you can we see that?
- Yeah I did--
- And talk about you showed me the cartridge
and you said that it has like even more nicotine
than a pack of cigarettes.
- Yeah.
So if you take a look at how
I just concealed this in my pocket.
I brought it right into your studio.
See you take a look at that.
What does that look like?
- It looks like a USB.
- Absolutely.
And let's just say this.
Couldn't you hide that in your sleeve?
- Oh, absolutely.
- Kids are using this in the classroom,
kids who never would have smoked,
they get addicted to nicotine
and that can last for their entire life.
Now, let me show you the actual Juul pod.
let me pull it out.
You think oh, maybe it's a big thing?
- Right?
- That's it.
- So that little thing has-- - That little thing.
- More nicotine than a pack of cigarettes,
- An entire pack of cigarettes.
A few little drops of this liquid gets into your brain
and you get addicted for life.
- Wow.
This is extremely interesting.
And it's really good for us to see.
What advice do you have for all the parents out there
and for those, with small children who
this probably seems cool for children to do?
- Absolutely kids.
69% of kids don't even know
that every Juul contains nicotine.
They think it's harmless water vapor with
a little bit of flavoring, but in these flavors,
contains the nicotine.
And there's this image of on the website
like oh,
healthy mango,
cool cucumber,
fruit medley.
They even have creme brulee.
These things are marketed to kids.
Let's make no mistake,
they are not trying to get smokers to switch to this.
They're trying to addict the next generation
to tobacco products.
- So for parents out there,
it's obviously just really good for them to see this
and to hear about this
and just any quick parting advice
that you can give to the parents?
- Well, I think that,
talk to your pediatrician,
talk to your family doctor,
make sure that we get kids off of these products.
If you've not started using them
then never start because you are probably gonna
be looking at a lifetime of tobacco addiction.
- Right.
Dr. Winecoff we really appreciate your time this morning
and I know you're flying in
and doing really good work with
the Akron Children's Hospital out there as well.
So we really appreciate you coming in this morning.
- And I really appreciate the opportunity