HOST: This week, WXXI is looking back at the events and people that made news in 20-19.

Today, health reporter Brett Dahlberg sits down with our editor Denise Young to bring us up-to-
date on one of the most important health stories of the year: vaping.

DENISE: Brett, e-cigarettes and vaping have been around for a while, but they really seemed to
hit our news this year. Why?

BRETT: Right, e-cigarettes have been around for the better part of a decade in most parts of the
U.S. What’s really gotten them on our radar this year is the surge in youth use of the products.

There’s a bunch of statistics I could throw at you to illustrate the trend, but I think maybe the
best one is this: More than 40% of Monroe County high school students say they’ve used e-
cigarettes, according to a survey by the health department. And that’s creating some real
problems for schools.

DENISE: Like what kind of problems?

BRETT: Number one is health. E-cigarettes aren’t burning anything, so they don’t feel as harsh
as regular cigarettes. It’s easier to breathe in a lot from them. And a lot of brands really pack in
the nicotine, and that leads to addiction.

The second problem is discipline. See, the standard punishment for a student bringing tobacco to
school is suspension. But if you’re following that standard, you’re suspending 40% of your
students. In the Greece Central School District, administrators say they just can’t do that. It hurts
both the health and the education of students. Here’s assistant superintendent Mike Zaffuts.

ZAFFUTS: First and foremost, you’re losing instructional time. They’re going to be falling
behind their peers. Another thing was, a lot of time these students are going to be home from
school, their parent would likely go to work, and, if you put two and two together, what are they
going to do if they’re addicted to vaping? They’re probably going to be home, vaping.

DENISE: And what about adults? What do we know about how e-cigarettes are affecting them?

BRETT: Yeah, this is an important point, because e-cigarette manufacturers say they are not
targeting children. They say their target audience is adults who want to quit smoking.

This is controversial, because e-cigarettes are not what’s called an approved “smoking cessation”
device. But a good number of people I’ve talked to say vaping is the only thing that worked for
them to quit smoking.
And so locally, we’ve got some researchers looking into how this might work. Irfan Rahman
runs a lab at the University of Rochester Medical Center that takes apart e-cigarettes to figure out
what chemicals are created when people vape them. Even in legal e-cigarettes, he says, there’s
some pretty bad stuff.

RAHMAN: For example, fruit medley has butanoic acid. Butane. Butane is used in the gas
lighter. Sulfate is a pesticide, here.

DENISE: Is that connected with the deaths that have been reported this year?

BRETT: We still don’t quite know, actually. The federal Centers for Disease Control says there
have been 52 deaths across the country connected to vaping this year. The strongest evidence
points to a chemical called Vitamin E Acetate. It’s a chemical added to some e-cigarettes sold on
the street, but the C-D-C says there could be other substances that are connected to those deaths.

And the University of Rochester Medical Center has actually been working with federal
researchers to try to clear some of this up. It’s a tough thing, though, because vaping injuries are
not covered by rules about disease reporting requirements.

But now, state and federal health authorities are saying even if it’s not required, they really want
doctors to report suspected cases of vaping injuries. They say it’s essential to figuring out exactly
what’s causing these deaths.

The state health department moved to ban certain flavored e-cigarettes months ago, but court
rulings have blocked them from enforcing it. The state says it’s a temporary delay, but vaping
advocates are hoping to win the legal battle.

DENISE: We’ll have to see where that goes. Thanks, Brett.

BRETT: Thanks, Denise.