Weatherly Area high school and middle school students learned about the dangers of vaping Thursday morning.

Maggie Jabeir from the Weller Health Education Center at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital of Allentown talked to some 350 students about making better choices regarding their health.

“Nothing is worse than finding out you are sick and that you can’t do anything about it,” she told the first group of high school students during the 8 a.m. presentation. “I don’t want you guys to be in that position.”

Jabeir started with a short video giving an overview of the E-cigarettes or vape, which was invented 20 years ago in China.

Dangers of e-cigarettes

“Many people assume E-cigarettes are safer than traditional cigarettes, because they don’t burn anything,” the video said. There hasn’t been enough time spent researching the effects, but they do contain nicotine just like traditional cigarettes.

Nicotine causes an increased heart rate and blood pressure.

It is addictive, especially with the developing brains of teenagers, where it is comparable to heroin and cocaine, the video said.

E-cigarettes can also contain chemical solvents, and some can be turned into formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen. Chemicals are also used to create some 8,000 different flavors.

Again, not much is known about the effects, but some butter flavors were tied to popcorn lung, which resulted in irreversible scarring and destruction of lung tissue.

E-cigarettes, or specifically the lithium batteries inside them, have been known to explode unpredictably and have been banned on planes.

E-cigarettes generate $8 billion in sales each year, and tobacco companies are using the same tools to recruit young people to become addicted to stay in business that they did decades earlier with traditional cigarettes, the video said.

“Studies show that when people start to smoke in their teens, they become addicted and stay smokers as they grow older,” the video said.

Jabeir asked what the students learned from the video, and one student was quick to point out that it seems big tobacco companies are getting rich off people dying.

Jabeir agreed, pointing out that you would think people would be looking out for mankind and not sell something that would kill someone.

“But not when it comes to Big Tobacco,” she said.

The tobacco companies continue to market their products the same way they did decades earlier, Jabeir said, because those methods worked.

“They are good at what they do,” she said. “If these companies can get you guys all addicted right now when you’re super young, that means you’re going to be a customer for the rest of your life.”

Many people don’t realize how much nicotine they’re getting, or how addictive it really is, Jabeir said. She talked about the brand, Juul, which uses pods.

Jabeir met one student who was using two or three pods a day, and said each pod contains the same amount of nicotine as a pack of regular cigarettes.

“This kid was going through the equivalent of two or three packs of cigarettes every single day,” she said.

The problem with any drug, especially nicotine, is that a body gets used to it, and needs more to feel the same effects, Jabeir said.

“Nicotine changes the way your brain works. It tricks your brain into thinking you need this constantly, just to make yourself feel OK,” she said. “If you go too long without it, you’re going to feel pretty rotten, pretty fast.”

If a friend goes into the school bathroom to vape, it may not be to seem cool, Jabeir said. It may be because they can’t make it through the school day without getting a fix, she said.

“That, my friends, is addiction,” she said.

More harmful than cigarettes

Jabeir told students not to gamble with their lungs, or life, as people have gotten sick, and some have died from vaping.

She told the students to think about the information she presented, and consider if vaping is helping them.

“The answer is no,” Jabeir said. “Vaping is not helping you. It has zero benefit. It only hurts you. Keep this information in mind, guys, and take it seriously, because it’s important.”

She also shared information on getting help to quit and breaking the cycle of addiction.

Weatherly Area’s school nurse, Rebekah McFadden, said that when vapes first came out, many people saw them as the lesser evil than cigarettes and could provide people with a way to quit smoking.

“And that’s not the case,” she said. “It’s the same carcinogens, the same toxins, and actually, I think research has shown that they actually can be more harmful than regular cigarettes.”

That is why the school reached out to Lehigh Valley to present the program, she said.

“We want our kids to have this information,” McFadden said.