SALT LAKE CITY — New data suggests teenagers are putting down the vapes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows middle and high school vaping rates have dropped from 14% to 10% in the last year.
In Utah, the State Department of Health and Human Services says youth vaping rates have also been declining, from 12% in 2019 to 7% now.
The state used an anonymous study to ask students a series of questions related to vaping.
Dr. Dixie Harris, a pulmonary critical care and sleep physician at Intermountain Health said this the results are great news when it comes to Utah youth and their lungs.
“I’m super excited about it,” she said, “Just to know that if the youth are going down in their usage, then potentially they’re not going to be addicted and won’t potentially convert even to cigarettes as they get older.”
Dr. Harris said since vaping use hasn’t been studied as much as cigarettes, it’s hard to know the extent of how bad it is for you… but she said it can’t be good.
“We all are very aware of the dangers of pollution, air quality that well, vaping is the same idea,” said Dr. Harris, “You're putting foreign materials into your lungs, potentially could damage your lungs.”
Tobacco Prevention and Control Program Manager Garden Ainsworth said the state attributes the decrease largely to legislation limiting youth access, and effective anti-vaping marketing.
“In 2020 there's a lot of legislative action and policy work that we were doing,” said Ainsworth, “And that the legislature was doing to try to address the huge use of youth vaping or use of these products. And it's great to see that those things are paying off.”
