What vapers don’t know

Young adults don’t know what’s in the products they vape and often don’t know what brand of vaping products they use, a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine said.

For the study, published March 16 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the researchers surveyed 445 California residents ages 17-24 about their use of e-cigarettes, including products from Juul, Suorin Drop, Phix and Myblu.

Researchers said about half of pod-based e-cigarette users were unaware of the product’s nicotine content.

“If we asked how many milligrams of nicotine are in a Juul pod, for example, we found the answers were all over the place,” said the study’s senior author, Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, professor of pediatrics. “Packaging is so confusing and misleading.”

At the time of the survey in early 2019, Juul labels only said “5%.” That’s been updated — labels now say “5% nicotine.” Still, the amount of nicotine per dose is not listed.

“I really hope these findings will be used to further regulate e-cigarettes,” said Halpern-Felsher.