| | Published February 20th, 2019
| Local schools offer parent education on vaping and juuling
| | | By Sora O'Doherty |  | | |
A special program to educate parents about vaping and juuling is being offered jointly by the Acalanes Union, Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda Union school districts. Parents are invited to join an interactive discussion with local school leaders from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27 in the Miramonte High School Performing Arts Center. The program is entitled, "Having courageous conversations with your child in an age of accessibility." As the event is open to parents from multiple school districts, attendance is by reservation only as space will be limited.
The city of Lafayette is currently considering adopting an ordinance prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, which are available in such child-friendly flavors as "cotton candy." The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering how new regulations can fight what FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, on Feb. 11 called "an epidemic-level rise in youth e-cigarette use," which, he says, "is threatening the progress we've made toward reducing youth tobacco use."
Gottlieb stated that "[a]ccording to the data released today, approximately 4.9 million middle and high school students were current users (used in the past 30 days) of some type of tobacco product in 2018, up from 3.6 million in 2017. This increase is driven by an alarming surge in e-cigarette use. More than 3.6 million middle and high school students were current (past 30 day) e-cigarette users in 2018, a dramatic increase of more than 1.5 million students in one year." In his statement, Gottlieb notes that "the study authors suggest - as the FDA also noted at the time of the initial release of this data in the fall - that the rise in e-cigarette use in the last year is likely due to the recent popularity of certain types of e-cigarettes, such as JUUL."
"The signs that we're seeing are not encouraging," he concluded. "They point to continued growth in youth use of these products. No child should be using any tobacco or nicotine-containing product." Gottlieb addressed the conflict between making anti-smoking products available to adults, but trying to prevent youth use. "The FDA has repeatedly affirmed our collective view that e-cigarettes may have promise as a tool for helping currently addicted adult smokers quit smoking. But, with the staggering data on youth trends, we're struggling to preserve these opportunities for adults while addressing the youth epidemic. I simply won't allow their sale to come at the expense of addicting a generation of kids to nicotine."
In addition to other regulatory approaches, Gottlieb announced that as one part of the youth e-cigarette prevention campaign, the FDA has "joined forces with Scholastic to expand distribution of youth e-cigarette prevention posters to every public and private high school in the U.S. and released new resources for doctors, youth groups, churches, state and local public health agencies, and others on the dangers of youth e-cigarette use. Additionally, our work with Scholastic to provide educators with resources to help them engage with students about e-cigarette use has helped reach more than 2.7 million students so far."
Info: The link for reservations for the educational presentation at Miramonte is https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vaping-and-juuling-having-courageous-conversations-with-your-child-in-an-age-of-accessibility-tickets-55682970263 |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA