Most teenagers know that cigarettes are not healthy. But are they aware of the marketing that encourages tobacco use? We know that tobacco plants contain nicotine which is addicting. Manufacturers are introducing new tobacco and nicotine products all the time targeting teenagers, young teenagers. Parents need to know facts about tobacco, nicotine and how it effects their children’s health.
We know that nicotine is a natural chemical present in anything made with tobacco leaves. Healthychildren.org explains that this covers a wide range of products including cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless alternatives like chew, dip and dissolvable tobacco. Nicotine can also be made in the lab so some products can say it is tobacco free in some vapes and nicotine pouches. Any product that delivers nicotine will harm a child’s health.
Healthychildren.org reports that nicotine is as likely to cause substance use disorder as is heroin or cocaine. Nicotine apparently changes how the brain functions causing problems with learning and attention. These changes can last a lifetime.
Over time nicotine causes blood vessels to narrow. They become stiff and less flexible, limiting the flow of oxygen and nutrient to every cell in the body.
Older forms of tobacco are being recycled with young people such as cigars, cigarillos and little cigars. These products are made with whole leaf tobacco tightly rolled inside of a tobacco wrapper. Cigars and cigarillos differ only in size and both lack a filter. Nicotine content is high in cigar-style smokes, 100-200 milligrams as compared to 8 milligrams in a cigarette
A hookah is a centuries-old way of smoking using a large glass pipe over a water filled bowl that allows the smoke to be pulled out through a long flexible tube. Hookah tobacco may have real and artificial flavors added. In a typical 1-hour session, people using a hookah may inhale 100-200 times the amount of smoke of one cigarette.
Menthol is a chemical found in peppermint. It can also be made in the lab. Cigarette companies use it to reduce the burning sensation of inhaling tobacco smoke. This allows those who smoke to take a deeper breath and hold the tars and multiple chemicals longer. Research shows that half of the children age 12-17 who smoke prefer menthols.
Snus is a smokeless tobacco product (Scandinavian) that is a small pouch of powdered tobacco that fits under the upper lip. People like it because it doesn’t require spitting. However it does deliver nicotine and other cancer-causing agents. Nicotine pouches (ZYN brand) is labeled as tobacco free but their nicotine content makes them addictive and harmful to growing bodies.
Lastly but not least there is dissolvable tobacco and non-tobacco products, nicotine chewing gum and heated tobacco products. No matter what the manufacturers say the new nicotine products are not safe for children.
Disposable e-cigarettes vaping are not safe but are heavily marketed to young people.
by Sally Robinson, MD Clinical Professor
Keeping Kids Healthy
Published 5/2023