ODESSA, Texas — Although they look colorful and are full of flavor, e-cigarettes and vape pens are also full of nicotine and more often found in the hands of young teens.
“It’s really attractive you have bubblegum, you have cherry that flavor it’s something enticing to a young person or a child to make it more attractive to them," said Renato Galindo, Director of Cardiopulmonary Services, MCH.
Sales grew 47% from January 2020 to this past December, according to the CDC.
"The dangers of it is the concentration of the liquid itself," Galindo said. "E-cigarettes vaping pens are not regulated so who knows how much exactly is in each vape pen or the cartridges or the refills being used."
The liquid nicotine found in e-cigarettes is more harmful since it contains more nicotine than a pack of cigarettes.
"Cigarettes can contain anywhere to about 2 milligrams of nicotine per cigarette. They have found that some of the e-cigarette’s pens could have the equivalent of 1-2 packs of nicotine inside of them," he said. "So, that is a large amount of nicotine to be injecting."
"Them being that young and taking high doses like that they’re more exposed to the nicotine poisoning whereas someone who maybe has smoked 10 [to]15 years [of] a pack or two a day their body has built up a tolerance," he said. "As time goes on well a young child a young person hasn’t had that long of an exposure so it’s more poisonous to them at that time."
Nicotine poisoning symptoms can include nausea, vomiting and irregular heartbeat, but there can also be more severe symptoms and side effects as well.
"We’re really starting to figure out the long-term effects of these electric devices whether it’s the pen or the e-cigarette as to really the damage that’s also being done on the inside of the body," Galindo said. "Behind the nicotine poisoning there is some severe scarring and lung issues being caused by these products."
He also urges parents to have conversations with their kids.
"Really and truly, they need to know if their child is using it. Unfortunately, the vape pen the e-cigarette is not the lesser of two evils compared to regular tobacco. An evil is an evil," he said. "They’re both using nicotine they’re both a poison that’s dangerous to their child’s body so they have to have that conversation as to why you’re using it or why you should stay away from it."