Electronic Cigarettes

What are E-Cigarettes?

• E-cigarettes are tobacco products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deemed e-cigarettes, cigars, and hookah and pipe tobacco, as tobacco products.
• E-cigarettes are “vaping” devices that mimic the act of smoking.
• Battery-powered devices that heat a liquid mixture that usually contains nicotine and other ingredients, which are inhaled by the user.
• They come in many shapes and sizes.
• There are now approximately 8,000 e-juice flavors (like menthol, fruit, candy, chocolate, sweets). The variety of flavors attracts youth to trying them.

Public Health Concerns

• The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has the authority to create manufacturing and labeling standards. Currently there are no standards or regulations, resulting in various levels of nicotine and other chemicals in the liquid placed inside of them.
• The aerosol that comes from e-cigarettes contains harmful and potentially harmful ingredients, including nicotine, ultrafine particles, heated flavorings, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals.
• E-cigarettes are illegal for kids under 21 years of age.
• The brain continues to develop through the early to mid-twenties. Nicotine use during this time can:
  • Disrupt the formation of brain circuits that control attention and learning.
  • Activate the limbic system more strongly, which can lead to addiction.
• Nicotine can be poisonous, especially in liquid form often called e-juice, e-liquid, or liquid nicotine. E-juice is harmful to children. Just a few drops absorbed by the skin or swallowed can send a child to the emergency room. Ingesting as little as half of a teaspoon of e-juice, may be fatal for children. It is important to store all nicotine products out of reach of children.
  • E-cigarettes as cessation aids (help with quitting tobacco). There is very limited scientific information available about the use of e-cigarettes as a cessation aid. Please note that without manufacturing and regulatory standards, conducting randomized clinical trials remains challenging.

New Hampshire Data (2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey)

• Nationally, 27.5% of high-school aged youth report having used electronic vapor products (e-cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes, vaping pens, or e-hookah) on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey.
• In New Hampshire
  • 34% of high school age youth report having used electronic vapor products on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey.
  • 43% of New Hampshire 12th grade males report using electronic vapor products.
  • “Vaping” among New Hampshire youth is 5x more likely than that of cigarette smoking