Just How Harmful Is Vaping? A New Study Adds To Concerns

Researchers are starting to understand the hazards of vapes. PLUS: Anti-deepfake laws aren't keeping up with teens, and abortion bans are increasing relationship violence.

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• I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and journalist. During the week, I send out editions of my Teen Health Today newsletter that are free for all to read - the most recent is Anxious Girls, Lonely Boys - Live From Aspen Ideas: Health.

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In this edition:

• Just How Harmful Is Vaping? More Evidence Is Emerging.

• A Generation Of ‘Virgins’ Is Leading America’s Next Sexual Revolution

• With High Schoolers’ Help, UC Berkeley Researchers Investigate Why So Many Students Are Chronically Absent

• What Happens When Most of the Adults in Boys’ Lives Are Women

• Abortion Bans Worsen Violence in Relationships, Study Finds

• A Century Ago, Adolescents Weren’t Fully Human

• Kids Are Making Deepfakes Of Each Other, And Laws Aren’t Keeping Up

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Photo by Elsa Olofsson on Unsplash

Just How Harmful Is Vaping? More Evidence Is Emerging. (New York Times)

By Dani Blum: When vapes started to become popular in the mid-2010s, the tiny cartridges carried big promises. They were presented as a healthier alternative to cigarettes and a path to quit smoking.

Now, researchers are coming to understand the hazards of vapes themselves. In a study from last month, for example, a team of scientists analyzed the mist from popular vapes and found such high levels of heavy metals that one researcher thought their machine had malfunctioned. Other studies have suggested that vaping can affect the heart, lungs and brain.

Experts said they were worried that vaping may become harder to study after the Trump administration shut down a unit focused on smoking and health. The government has also slashed funds for programs that help people stop vaping. READ MORE

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