There are now 29 vaping-related deaths in America as of Oct. 10, and the number of people that have gotten sick from vaping has risen to around 1,300. The numbers only continue to rise.

  A 17-year-old boy from the Bronx was the 23rd vaping death. He was the first teenager and youngest to have died this way, as well as New York’s first vaping death. “The teenager died on Friday,” said The New York Times article Bronx Teenager’s Death Is the Youngest Vaping Fatality in U.S. by Ed Shanahan and Azi Paybarah. “After being hospitalized twice in September with a vaping-related illness, becoming the state’s first fatality from the mysterious lung disease, according to state health officials.” 1 

  And, unfortunately, he is not the only teen using e-cigarettes. One in four high school students have used e-cigarettes, which is causing many people to blame the e-cigarette companies for selling flavored products, saying that they are intentionally targeting kids.

  “Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the FDA commissioner at the time,” said CNET article Vaping: The deaths, illnesses and controversies in the last year by Danielle Kosecki. “Issued a statement calling teen vaping an ‘epidemic’ and urges the e-cigarette industry to address the problem or risk having their flavored products pulled from the market.” 2  

  There are different demographics of people who have been affected by vaping. “About 70 percent of the patients were male,” said The New York Times article Bronx Teenager’s Death Is the Youngest Vaping Fatality in U.S. by Ed Shanahan and Azi Paybarah. “80 percent were under 35 and 16 percent were younger than 18, she said. The median age for those who died was about 50.” 1 

  Given the new found dangers of e-cigarettes and the new development of vaping taking the life of a teenager, it’s more important now than ever that parents make sure their kids understand the risks of vaping.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/nyregion/vaping-death.html

https://www.cnet.com/news/a-timeline-of-recent-juul-and-vaping-health-controversies-death-update/