UMD Students Address Growing Problem With The Use Of E-Cigarettes

DULUTH, Minn. – The number of young adults in Minnesota using e–cigarettes has been rising at alarming rates.

And teen vaping has many health experts concerned.

Now a University of Minnesota Duluth public health class is working on a semester long project to find out why the use of e–cigarettes is becoming so popular, not just on campus but around the community.

To help the public health class find the root of the problem they set up a booth at the UMD Health Fair.

Students passing by could voluntarily fill out a questionnaire with fifteen questions.

The purpose of the survey isn’t just to collect data.

It is also an opportunity to find out how much students really know about using the many potential harmful effects of vaping.

“Do they know what’s in the nicotine? Do they know what’s in the vapes and what’s going into their system? Basically trying to ask questions to get them to think about what they are doing,” said Hannah Johnson.

Just from observation many of the students in the public health class see as vaping is more of a trend.

They believe many young adults use e–cigarettes simply because they see others doing it.

One student says with so many unknown dangers that come with using the product, it’s going to require a wake-up call for young adults to understand how harmful vaping really can be.

“It’s a silent killer. We don’t know enough about it,” said Adam Johnston. “We do see these recent news articles about deaths and health conditions and I think that’s what it’s really going to take for people to start waking up is to have it happen to someone close to them.”

The public health class students are hoping use the data collected from these surveys to bring more awareness to the Duluth community.