Vaping Woes

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Anchor lead: A lack of knowledge led to our current vaping crisis, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Do e-cigarettes help people to stop using combustible cigarettes? Enid Neptune, a lung expert and tobacco activist at Johns Hopkins, says because the answer to that question was not known, the stage was set for vaping to become the public health crisis among youth we are currently witnessing.

Neptune: This issue was both preventable and entirely predictable. We knew that there was a signal among youth I think soon after these products were first introduced with the flavorings. We also knew there was a heightened interest in the way that these products were being marketed. The challenge was that the regulatory environment held out the hope that these products may have some role in helping certain adults stop smoking.  :31

Neptune hopes that current bans on flavored vaping liquids continue even as lawmakers craft more protective legislation. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.