Tobacco and vaping was the topic at the state capitol Monday, as lawmakers look ahead to the 2020 session and introduce efforts to stem teen addiction. As the dangers of vaping are becoming more evident to medical professionals, there is a concerted effort to make it harder for kids to have access.
Dr. David Hilden is a Division Director at Hennepin County Medical Center and the co-host of WCCO's Healthy Matters on Sunday morning. Hew talked to Dave Lee on Tuesday about the proposed change in state law, and the dangers of vaping.
"Vaping, we used to think just a few years ago was maybe an okay thing," said Hilden. "It is not. It is quite dangerous for almost all people. The thought was initially that it would help adult smokers to quit smoking cigarettes. And if you are an adult smoker, vaping is probably better than smoking a combustible cigarette. But that's it. For everybody else it's dangerous."
Hilden also made a point of saying how important it is to keep away from kids, where vaping has risen dramatically in the last couple of years.
"And for teenagers it's almost an epidemic that we should all be concerned about it," said Hilden. "It's got not only nicotine in it, but it's got chemicals in it. When you inhale those chemicals, they get in your lungs and they're causing literally a new illness that we didn't have a name for. Now we do, it's called VALI, or vaping associated lung injury. And people are literally dying on this. Three in the state of Minnesota have already died from this and we don't know why, but it's something to do with inhaling chemicals or particulate matter. And so kids are doing it a lot. I saw a recent study showed one in four 11th graders are vaping."
Hilden supports raising the minimum age for tobacco purchase to 21 in order to make it more difficult for teens to obtain vaping products.
A group of DFL House members are also initiating Tobacco 21 statewide, which was first introduced last session, but did not receive a hearing. It seems to have bipartisan support. Republican Senator Carla Nelson says she's hopeful it will land right back in the Health and Human Services Committee when the legislature reconvenes in 2020.
Convenience store owners continue to speak out against these kinds of tobacco laws, saying "they hurt business".