DENVER — The Food and Drug Administration launched a new campaign against teenage vaping on Tuesday.
“The Real Cost” campaign includes jarring videos that will air online and on social media.
It also includes posters that will go up in 10,000 school bathrooms across the country.
The goal is to educate middle and high school students about the dangers of vaping.
“I think it’s great,” said Michel Holien, the substance use prevention supervisor for Denver Public Schools. “I think we are really challenged with this issue of vaping and it’s great to see some national support for the issue.”
Holien says she doesn’t think kids realize what they are putting in their bodies.
“Do students really even understand what is in the liquid that they are vaping?” Holien said. “And if it has nicotine do they realize that one of those little Juul packs is equivalent to a pack of cigarettes.”
She hopes this campaign will bring awareness to students that there are potential health implications, and help kids make better decisions.
The 2017 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey found about 40 percent of Colorado high school students have vaped, and about 27 percent say they’ve done it in the past 30 days.
One of the posters reminds kids, “Vaping can deliver nicotine to your brain reprogramming you to crave more and more.”
Dr. Lisa Miller with Partners in Pediatrics in Denver said the campaign is a step in the right direction.
“It’s not as benign as it may seem,” she said. “It does have some very serious health consequences that we`d love, love , love to prevent.”