Vaping by Umatilla County teens concerns the health department
By Terry Murry on Thursday, August 24th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
UMATILLA COUNTY – Vaping by teenagers is a major concern for Umatilla County Public Health. Director Joseph Fiumara said he doesn’t think people understand how serious the problem is because vaping is harder to detect.
“They look like USB drives, markers, pens,” he said. “They smell like candy. They market them to taste like candy.”
Fiumara said he doesn’t put much stock in the argument that vaping contains fewer chemicals than tobacco products. The main product, nicotine, is dangerous enough he said.
“There’s a lot of evidence to show that nicotine on its own can cause a lot of damage on your vascular system and that really can affect every cell in your body,” he said. “It’s not safe.”
He advises parents to talk to their children about the potential ill affects of vaping. He said that UCo Health is working with schools in an attempt to stem the rampant use.
Meanwhile, he said vaping is a big business and companies are obviously marketing it for those who are too young. They will get fined, but the companies don’t care.
“It’s still a business for them that they can do this marketing, they can get three or four years’ worth of sales going, and then they can pay their fine and they can still walk out money ahead,” he said.
