Vaping not a safe alternative to smoking: Public health

Electronic cigarettes and soon-tobe legalized marijuana are growing concerns for Niagara’s public health officials.

Although the region’s 2016 tobacco control program seems to be making a difference, associate medical officer of health Dr. Andrea Feller as well as manager of chronic disease and injury prevention David Lorenzo remain concerned about a growing number of young people instead using e-cigarettes, known as “vaping,” while bracing for the pending legalization of marijuana on July 1, 2018.

They were at last week’s public health committee meeting to share their concerns with regional councillors.

Lorenzo said about 25 per cent of Niagara’s youth, 12 to 18 years old, said they used e-cigarettes in the preceding year.

And although manufacturers claim the e-cigarettes are not harmful, Feller said there is no scientific data to back up those claims.

“This is really new ground for us,” Lorenzo said, regarding the increase in e-cigarette use.

He said public health, however, is working to get the message out that this is not a safe alternative to smoking.

Once marijuana is legal, Feller recommends banning use of the drug anywhere that tobacco is currently banned.

Despite claims that it is not as harmful as tobacco, she said any substance a person inhales into their lungs is not normal.

“You are purposely introducing an irritant into your lungs,” she said.

It alters brain chemistry, and is particularly harmful for children whose brains are developing, she added.

You are purposely introducing an irritant into your lungs.” Associate medical officer of health Dr. Andrea Feller