Greencastle-AntrimMiddle School

Welcome to GAMS E-Cigarettes Awareness Informational Page

Danger! Danger! Danger!

GETTING INFORMED ABOUT A DANGEROUS EPIDEMIC - E-CIGARETTE SMOKING

What are E-cigarettes?

• E-cigarettes are battery powered smoking devices that deliver nicotine through a liquid (called: e-juice,vaping, JUULing), which turns into a vapor when using the devices. 

• E-cigarettes are electronic devices that heat a liquid and produce an aerosol or mix of small particles in the air.

 E-cigarettes are Known by Many Different Names:

• vaping
• e-cigs
• JUUL or JUULing
• e-hookahs
• mods
• vape pens
• vapes
• tank systems
• electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS)

What is Vaping?

• Vaping is using an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) or another vaping device.

Why it's Dangerous? 

• Many kinds of e-cigarettes, but equally dangerous 
• Unsafe
• Addictive drug
• Harmful to youth’s brain
• Kills
• Toxic
• Lung disease
  
• Affects: learning, mood, attention, impulse control
• Poison: by swallowing, breathing or absorbing the liquid through the skin or eyes.
• Contain nicotine (highly addictive)
• Contain heavy metals: nickel, tin & lead
• Contain ultra-fine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs.
• Contain cancer-causing chemicals
• Contain flavoring chemicals linked to serious lung disease

 What is Nicotine?

• Nicotine is a toxic colorless or yellowish oily liquid.
• Nicotine is highly addictive drug
• Nicotine acts as a stimulant in small doses, but in larger amounts blocks the action of autonomic nerve and skeletal muscle cells.
• Nicotine is also used in insecticides (substances used to kill insects).

What’s in E-cigarette Aerosol?

• Volatile organic compounds
• Nicotine (highly addictive drug)
• Ultra-fine particles
• Flavoring such as diacetyl (highly toxic chemical), a chemical linked to a serous lung disease.
• Heavy metals such as nickel, tin and lead

What is Diacetyl?

Diacetyl is a highly toxic chemical compound that is very dangerous. Exposure can cause permanent, severe, and potentially lethal lung disease.

What do E-cigarettes Look Like?

• Cigarettes
• Cigars
• Pipes
• USB flash drives
• Pens
• Most e-cigarettes have a battery, a heating element, and a place to hold a liquid.
• E-cigarettes come in many shapes and sizes

Learn more about the dangers of the e-cigarettes smoking epidemic (JUULing, Vaping, Tank System) below. (The information above was obtained from these resources.)

• Tobacco Resistance Unit (TRU) 

• Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - Smoking & Tobacco Use / Electric Cigarettes 

• E-Cigarettes and Youth Toolkit for partners: How You Can Help End the Epidemic 

For more information, please contact: