Although JUUL and other well-known e-cigarette makers have promoted their products as being safer than smoking traditional cigarettes, the results of a recent study reveal that vaping actually carries a higher risk of long-term addiction, particularly for teenagers.
E-cigarette users are exposed to lower levels of some cancer-causing toxins, according to research findings published this month in the medical journal JAMA Network, but over a six-year period vaping doubles the amount of nicotine metabolites—the substance created when the body breaks down nicotine—raising the risk of addiction.
Researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha examined data from 16,393 smokers, 1,240 users of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, and 197 users of nicotine-free e-cigarettes as part of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health, a study of tobacco use that is nationally representative.
After six years of vaping, there is a higher risk of nicotine addiction.
The research revealed that nicotine users were more inclined to vape every day. Additionally, they were more likely to inhale 16 puffs on average as opposed to just 3 for non-nicotine vapers.
Biomarkers of exposure to tobacco-related toxins associated to addiction and cancer risk include tobacco nitrosamines and nicotine metabolites in the urine. These two user attributes were measured by researchers.
The metabolites doubled in nicotine-using vapers over a six-year period. Given that it is a sign of addiction, this is particularly troubling. This is not surprising considering that JUUL brand e-cigarettes, which are thought to be the cause of the teen vaping pandemic, were created with the intention of becoming just as addictive as smoking Marlboro cigarettes.
Thousands of JUUL vaping addiction lawsuits are currently being pursued by families and young adults across the U.S., alleging that the company failed to warn about the dangers associated with the product, leading to another generation of Americans addicted to nicotine. This is after years of specifically marketing their products to teens and former non-smokers.
Data from this recent study show that nicotine exposure was lower among e-cigarette users than among combustible cigarette smokers, despite the higher chance of addiction among e-cigarette users, especially youth. In comparison to tobacco smokers, e-cigarette users had reduced levels of NNAL (4-methylnitrosamino-1-3-pyridyl-1 butanol), a metabolite of a tobacco-related carcinogen, over the course of the study. These levels also remained stable over time.
The average NNAL levels from 2016 to 2018 were 218.3 pg/mg for tobacco smokers, 5.1 pg/mg for nicotine e-cigarette users, and 3.8 pg/mg for non-nicotine vapers.
Epidemic of teen vaping
More than 3 million middle and high school children in the United States currently report using tobacco, according to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. The most common way that young people are using tobacco is still with e-cigarettes.
The CDC study also found that kids who performed poorly academically, experienced psychological distress, or identified as LGBTQ+ all reported increased tobacco usage rates.
Overall, the study came to two key conclusions: vaping may be healthier for nicotine addicts than smoking cigarettes since it exposes them to less cancer-causing toxins. But vaping also significantly raises the chance of addiction for users, and over the course of a lifetime of usage, it may result in elevated levels of toxins, especially given that the health risks of vaping may not become apparent for decades.
JUUL Vaping Addiction Lawsuit Update for November 2022
According to the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s November 2022 update (PDF), there are currently at least 4,500 cases filed against JUUL Labs in federal court. The case is consolidated before U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick III in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for coordinated discovery and pretrial hearings due to common factual and legal issues raised in the complaints.
JUUL signed a $438.5 million settlement agreement with 34 states in September 2022 to address charges the firm used unethical marketing and sales techniques that contributed to the dramatic rise in teen nicotine addiction rates. The tens of thousands of individual claims made against the corporation, however, were not satisfied by the litigation settlement.
The first JUUL vaping addiction trials are anticipated to start this year, according to a pretrial schedule released by Judge Orrick. These trials will help determine how juries are likely to react to specific evidence and testimony that will be raised throughout the litigation over the company’s role in contributing to individual vaping addictions.
The Court is anticipated to begin remanding hundreds of claims back to U.S. District Courts around the country for individual trial dates in the future if JUUL lawsuit payments are not agreed to resolve those claims under the combined pretrial process under Judge Orrick.
Ref: https://www.aboutlawsuits.com/vaping-addiction-study/
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