Youths not aware of nicotine products they vape: Study

 Researchers have found that young adults don't know what's in the products they vape and often don't know what brand of vaping products they use.

For the findings, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the research team asked 445 participants, ages 17-24, about their use of pod-based e-cigarettes, including specific questions about products made by Juul, Suorin Drop, Phix and Myblu.

Pod-based e-cigarettes are vaping devices that consist of a small plastic pod of nicotine-infused fluid that snaps into a vaporiser powered by a rechargeable battery.

"These young people had no idea how much nicotine they were consuming," said study researcher Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, Professor at Stanford University in the US.

According to the researchers, the data were collected in early 2019 as part of the Tobacco Perceptions Study, a longitudinal study of tobacco and nicotine use, perceptions, and susceptibility to marketing among California youth.

For the findings, participants completed a questionnaire with detailed questions about their history of nicotine consumption, including use of cigarettes; pod-based e-cigarettes, such as Juul; and other types of e-cigarettes.

In addition to patterns of use, the participants were asked about their reasons for using pod-based e-cigarettes.

They were also asked about their perceptions of the nicotine content of these products.

The study found that 26.3 per cent of participants had used Juul; 24 per cent had smoked traditional cigarettes; 23 per cent had used nonpod-based e-cigarettes; and smaller proportions had used other pod-based e-cigarettes.

Among the participants who had tried a nicotine product, 51.3 per cent of those who reported trying Juul had vaped with the device over the last 30 days, 28.6 per cent of those who reported trying a cigarette had smoked one within the last 30 days, and 28.7 per cent of those who reported trying a nonpod-based e-cigarette had used such a device over the last 30 days.

About half of users of pod-based e-cigarettes, including Juul, said they shared pods with friends, and nearly half did not know if they always used cartridges sold under the same brand name as their devices.

The reason for choosing pod-based e-cigarettes was that they were easy to hide, according to 58 per cent of users.

The second-most-common reason, selected by 55.6 per cent of pod users, was that the smell they produce is less noticeable than other types of e-cigarettes.

The researchers also found that the young people did not know how much nicotine was in the products they were using. IANS