This content was created by Tiffany Di Pietro. This content was uploaded by Tiffany Di Pietro. This is a YouTube news segment titled "Fox News Happening Now- 12/2016" (posted December 10, 2016). It is a multi-speaker TV interview on vaping and e-cigarette risks featuring Fox News hosts/interviewers (labeled SPEAKER A and SPEAKER B) and Dr. Tiffany Di Pietro (introduced as an internist, board-certified cardiologist, and women's health expert). The discussion covers the rise in teen e-cigarette use, nicotine addiction, effects on adolescent brain development and cardiovascular risk (including heart disease and stroke), secondhand vapor concerns, cessation options (gum, patches, medications, cold turkey), and possible policy responses such as bans in public spaces.
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We want to delve a little bit more into a story that we first brought you yesterday on Happening Now about the threat the government now says that e-cigarettes pose to young people's health. Studies showing the number of teens using e-cigs has tripled in the past 5 years. The Surgeon General calling this a major public health concern.
These e-cigarettes contain nicotine, and nicotine comes from tobacco, and it is a highly addictive chemical. It can also have adverse effects on the developing brain of adolescents and young adults. These effects can lead to not only addiction, but also to deficits in attention and learning, reduced impulse control, and mood disorders.
Joining me now is Dr. Tiffany Di Pietro. She's an internist, board-certified cardiologist, and women's health expert. Thank you so much for joining us. So, you— use among teenagers has tripled in just the past 5 years. Why do you think they're drawn to these? Why are the numbers going up?
I mean, I think the problem is that they're flavored. So it's kind of like a trendy thing, kind of like cigarettes back in the 1950s. It was a new thing and everyone wanted to try it. And so now it looks kind of cool. You have your little electronic thing and it's flavored like gummy bears or cotton candy. The problem is, is that it's the nicotine that's addictive. So they've taken out the carcinogens per se from normal cigarettes, from the tar. The problem is, is the electronic cigarettes are just as addictive as regular cigarettes because the nicotine is the addictive factor, and these have nicotine in them.
And then will that lead down the road to, you know, cigarette use when it was supposed to be the absolute opposite?
I mean, there's that potential risk, right? So, I mean, the problem in my practice is I'm a cardiologist, and yes, the tar has been taken out, so theoretically there's less of a cancer risk, but the nicotine is what causes the heart disease. The nicotine is what causes the increased level of strokes. So when we see kids and teenagers starting this young, the odds of them becoming addicted to the nicotine and having heart disease, which is the number one killer now, is significant.
Heart disease, possibility of strokes, mood disorders, really runs the gamut, the risk that these teens are under now.
Yes, and it's very, very scary because again, it's the nicotine that's the addictive property, and so how do we, how do we get them to stop from the nicotine, which is exactly how we try and get people to stop smoking as well.
All right, so you asked the question yourself, how do we do that?
The only thing really that's FDA-approved to stop smoking are nicotine, like the gum, the patches, or There are a few medications on the market or just cold turkey.
The patch has nicotine in it as well, right?
Right, so the key to that is it tapers down over time. So there's different dosages and so you wear the patch and you taper down the nicotine over time so it's not a one-step withdrawal completely from the nicotine.
So why originally when these were marketed, they were marketed as a way to stop smoking, to help you, you know, get off of cigarettes?
Probably because someone wanted to make money. I mean, you know, because again, they will get off the cigarettes. But they're gonna stay on the e-cigarettes because the addictive property is still there.
All right, so if you're a parent at home and you know that your child is vaping, what steps can they take to kind of wean them off?
You know, I think it's a matter of education. I think these kids really don't realize the harm that they're doing to their bodies. It's just some education, maybe even with the pediatrician having some education. The nicotine does have adverse mental effects as well. It decreases brain development as well. Lord knows teenagers need all the brain cells they can get. So, you know, I think it's a matter of just the parents being the parents and saying, listen, this is very bad for you. It's like a drug. And we need to stop.
We know that cigarettes have been banned in a lot of public places, restaurants and parks and public transportation. What about vaping?
There are a few states that have started to ban it as well because they don't want confusion as to what you can or can't do. The secondhand smoke philosophy with these, is it safer than regular cigarette secondhand smoke? Absolutely. But is it as safe as clean air?
No.
And there have been some studies that show there are small levels of carcinogens in this vape that is the secondhand vapor from these.
All right, so the damage that is done using this vaping, like cigarettes, if you do stop, can it be reversed?
Essentially, yes. It takes a long time because you're damaging an artery that then has to rebuild itself. But just as in regular cigarette smoking, people that stop smoking just one day, their blood pressure drops, their heart rate drops. So there is significant physiologic changes that happen when people stop.
