The Center for Disease Control (CDC) website reports that “As of October 8, 2019, 1,299 lung injury cases associated with the use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, products have been reported to the CDC from 49 states, the District of Columbia, and 1 U.S. territory,” and of now 1,300 injured, 26 have died. While some find this shocking, people who vape are either unaware of this fact or completely disregard it.

E-cigarettes/vape devices have plagued the halls of State College Area High School for at least three years and according to Officer Aston, the State College High School police officer, three students have been hospitalized in 2018 due to vaping. As of the 2019/2020 school year alone, fifteen vape pens and e-cigarettes have been confiscated in the few weeks school has been in session and it doesn’t stop there; students at Park Forest Elementary and Mt. Nittany Middle School have been found with e-cigarettes. A former Mt. Nittany Middle School student commented that last year he would walk in on many students vaping in the boys bathroom.

So why the increase in vape use? When asked what age group vapes were targeted toward, Aston stated, “They sell skins and they are certainly not geared towards adults,” meaning that nicotine vape pens are targeted towards juvenile groups, though there are no reports in grades lower than grade six.

Aston referenced that e-cigarettes come in flavors appealing to mostly children and teenagers — i.e. Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Mango, etc.

Buzzfeed News recently posted an article called “An 18-Year-Old Died After Becoming Addicted to Vaping. Now His Mom Is Going After Juul.” The article stated, “The lawsuit, which also accuses San Francisco-based Juul of misleading marketing advertising its products as safe, comes as vape manufacturers face accusations that their flavored products are aimed at hooking children on nicotine and a mysterious lung illness has sickened hundreds of people around the US.” The 18-year-old had asthma, but was otherwise perfectly healthy.

According to the Atlantic, “Last month, the Trump administration announced its intention to bar all e-cigarettes that don’t taste like tobacco.” This could possibly aid in the lowering of stats of children and teenagers abusing nicotine, but even so, a plethora of youths are already addicted thanks to the administration taking so long to ban them as soon as the epidemic began.