'World No Tobacco Day' highlights effort to curb the use of vaping in youth

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- There is a continued effort to curb the use of vaping in North Carolina youth as May 31 marks 'World No Tobacco Day'.

The goal is to highlight how the tobacco industry creates products that increase addiction in youth. Even though traditional cigarette use is down---more and more students are turning to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes).

With a variety of fruity flavors, more than one in three youth e-cigarette users reported using them at least 20 of the last 30 days, according to the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey.

ABC11 spoke with Tricia Howard, former lead nurse for Durham Public Schools, who said many students don't see vaping as an issue, but nicotine is a very addictive substance.

"When you explain to a child their developing brain can be impacted in a negative way by the nicotine - their brain is still developing till age 25. So when are talking about things like learning, processing, mood, focus, all those things can be impacted by nicotine on that developing brain," said Tricia Howard. "Then we go down into the physical implication. The nicotine can impact the health of the lungs, cardiac implication, as well as cancer."

Nurse Howard said many students turn to vaping because they feel stressed or anxious. She recommends parents visit Parents Against Vaping's website to learn about more ways to talk with their teen about vaping.

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