Billed as a safe alternative to traditional cigarettes and tobacco products, electronic cigarettes or “e-cigarettes” have exploded in popularity with young adults and minors. One national survey from the University of Michigan shows that in 2014, 16.2% of 16-year-olds and 17.1% of 18-year-olds had smoked an e-cigarette in the last month. In contrast, only 7% and 14% of those respective groups had recently smoked a tobacco cigarette.
But as a relatively new product—the e-cigarette was introduced to U.S. markets in 2007—and with the potential for misuse, public and private schools across the country have stepped up to prohibit use.
What We Know
E-cigarettes are often designed to resemble a regular cigarette, but no matches are required. As the user—or “vaper,” as they’re known within the e-cig scene—presses a button, a coil heats within the cylindrical body, causing a refillable liquid within the chamber to vaporize into a breathable mist. The vaper inhales the mist, much as he or she would for cigarette smoke. The process is known as “vaping.”
The various liquids with which vapers can load their e-cigarettes can have wildly different flavors, from bubble gum and butterscotch to replicates of cigarette smoke. Unlike tobacco cigarettes, however, the vapor from an e-cigarette dissipates rapidly, eliminating property damage and that tobacco smell from clothing.
Further separating itself from traditional tobacco products, e-cigarettes and their vaping liquids do not necessarily contain nicotine. Many use the e-cigarettes for the flavored smoke, not necessarily for the addictive chemical cigarette smokers crave. That said, vaping liquids can have nicotine, giving yapers similar "hits" to that of traditional cigarettes.
For and Against
Proponents of vaping and e-cigarettes maintain that the products can encourage traditional tobacco users to quit, similar to other nicotine replacement products. In fact, they claim, it’s even better than gum or a patch, since using an e-cigarette triggers the same muscle-memory association for traditional users when they want a hit.
E-cigarettes are also claimed to be healthier than straight tobacco products, lacking carcinogens, tar, and other damaging substances found in ordinary cigarettes.
But the research-jury is still out on whether e-cigarettes can be considered a safe alternative to smoking. An analysis of research on e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) through September 2013 was unable to find definitive evidence on the health effects of ENDS, either beneficial or harmful, stating in its conclusion:
While e-cigarette aerosol may contain fewer toxicants than cigarette smoke, studies evaluating whether e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes are inconclusive. Some evidence suggests that e-cigarette use may facilitate smoking cessation, but definitive data are lacking. No e-cigarette has been approved by [the] FDA as a cessation aid. Environmental concerns and issues regarding non-user exposure exist.
For now, the harmful effects of e-cigarettes are linked to specific products, not to the product line as a whole. For example, one BBC report found that the flavoring agent used for a particular butterscotch vapor, diacetyl, was unsafe to inhale. Diacetyl is FDA-approved for use as a edible food flavoring, but the vaporized form of the chemical can lead to a lung condition called “popcorn lung”—so serious, it’s enough to warrant lung transplants.
While it’s true that e-cigarettes contain virtually no detectable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons —known to cause cancer—some second-generation devices have raised the coil’s temperature while vaporizing liquids, creating cause for concern. Ostensibly to allow for greater nicotine hits, the higher temperature could also break down the liquid solvents to create carbonyls—a group of chemicals containing known carcinogens like formaldehyde.
Schools’ Reactions
More research is needed on the devices for health concerns to be either justified or placated, but some states and private schools are taking no chances. New York is the latest state to join the trend, currently considering banning flavored vaping liquids for fear of specifically targeting malleable minors. The state has already banned the sale of any e-cigarette products within 100 feet of any school entrance, public or private.
Other regulatory agencies also place preemptory bans of the product, or are in the process of trying to. The Department of Transportation, for example, has stated that the "smoking" language in older laws designed for tobacco products covers the "smoke" from products like e-cigarettes and other ENDS. Nothing has been officially done to extend the "smoking" language to transportation as yet.
Schools are close behind in regulating the new products, following a “better safe than sorry” mindset. The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, for example, recently amended its drug and alcohol policy to include e-cigarettes.
Dean of Students Sarah D’Annolfo told the Associated Press that the new policy’s goal “is to reduce access and discourage use on campus,” adding that the policy “definitely sparks conversation within the school community about e-cigarette use and the possible dangers and the possible benefits.
“That conversation alone is a hugely important learning opportunity,” she said.
Superintendent of Haywood County Schools in North Carolina, Anne Garrett, also spoke to the Associated Press about her schools’ policy change to categorize e-cigarette devices as drug paraphernalia. “We don’t know if it’s vapor or some kind of hashish oil or some kind of illegal substance,” she says, referencing trends in states like Colorado and Washington where marijuana stores sell hash oil in pre-filled cartridges for e-cigarette devices.
Until more research on e-cigarettes is published, the most any school can do is be aware of this latest “smoking” trend—and prepare to act accordingly when information presents itself.
Additional ISM resources:
Research: Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General
ISM Monthly Update for School Heads Vol. 13 No. 2 Fact or Fiction? 5 Strange Ways Students (Try to) Get High
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 28 No. 14 Faculty Renewal and Retention: The Wellness Way
I&P Vol. 29 No. 4 Common Restroom Problems and Student Health
