“E-cigarette use among youth is now at epidemic levels, escalating dramatically since the introduction of flavored pod e-cigarettes such as Juul and copycat products,” said Ben Chandler, chairman of the Coalition for a Smoke-Free Tomorrow. “Kentucky lawmakers and health advocates need to know what the research says about these products, and how they're impacting future tobacco use and health.”
To spread the word, the Coalition, which is made up of 20 health and youth advocate organizations including the Kentucky School Boards Association, is hosting a conference Dec. 10 in Louisville to discuss the latest evidence about e-cigarettes’ health impact and to release a report about youth attitudes and perceptions about e-cigarettes.
“We’ll also examine the policies that should be enacted to turn back this alarming new trajectory,” said Chandler, who is also president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
The Coalition for a Smoke-Free Tomorrow led by Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation
for a Healthy Kentucky, is hoping to reverse the trend of an increased use of tobacco by Kentucky students.
One of two conference panels will focus on the youth perceptions report and the impact of e-cigarettes on Kentucky’s youth.
KSBA’s Director of Governmental Relations Eric Kennedy, who will be on the panel, said e-cigarettes have reversed the trend of declining tobacco use in Kentucky schools.
“For decades we have all acknowledged that the health of our students is directly linked to their ability to learn, and therefore the increasing use of electronic nicotine delivery systems, for which we still do not know the long-term health effects of, is concerning to us as school leaders,” he said.
Nearly half of the local school boards of the state have already adopted board policies to prohibit possession and use of such devices, he said.
“As this issue receives more review, including at this conference, we expect more to do so in order to protect their students’ health and well-being,” Kennedy said.
The problem is not limited to Kentucky. Recently published federal data shows a 78 percent increase in e-cigarette use among high school students this past year, compared with 2017, the Washington Post reported.
As a result, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a ban on the sale of most flavored pod e-cigarettes in tens of thousands of convenience stores and gas stations across the country and impose age-verification rules for online sales.
A study published in the November 2018 issue of Pediatrics found that adolescents who first try e-cigarettes or vapes end up smoking traditional cigarettes at about the same rate as youth who went straight to cigarettes.
Though e-cigarettes were created to help adults quit smoking, “the research is showing that they're a gateway to smoking for youth and young adults who experiment with them and then get hooked on nicotine while their brains are still developing,” Chandler said.
More Kentucky schools should enact tobacco-free school policies that prohibit the use of all tobacco products – including combustible cigarettes as well as vapes, e-cigarettes and other Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, or ENDS – on or in school property, he said.
Coalition for a Smoke-Free Tomorrow conference Dec. 10
The conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Dec. 10 in the training room at the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, 1640 Lyndon Farm Court, in Louisville. The conference is free, but registration is required.