By Hayley Ferguson

AHS warning parents about dangers of vaping

Jun 13, 2019 | 4:44 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – A recent Health Canada survey showed that 23 per cent of students in grades 7 to 12 have tried an electronic cigarette.

Although many say that vaping is less dangerous than cigarettes, experts say there are still major risks involved that students may not realize.

Dr Lena Derie-Gillespie says that many teenagers are misinformed, thinking that e-cigarettes are totally safe and not addictive.

She says that vaping hasn’t been studied enough yet, but one of the major concerns is the amount of nicotine.

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With very few standardization, one pod that can be smoked in a day while vaping has the nicotine equivalent of 20 cigarettes.

Although the highly addictive chemical is not known to cause cancer, it has been known to affect memory and alter teen brain development.

“There’s an idea out there that, vaping has been well studied as a stop smoking aid. There’s starting to be some evidence about it, but this is not a well studied phenomenon.” She said. “And even if there is some evidence about it being used for people who are current heavy smokers and that it might be safer then heavy nicotine, that doesn’t make it safe. There’s a big difference between safer and safe.”

Dr Derie-Gillespie says that if parents are concerned about their children vaping that Health Canada has a number of online resources to start a conversation and make sure their teens have all the facts.