By KRISTIAN DEL ROSARIO
On Feb. 7, 2018, college students and active Juul users went crazy on social media. Rumors started circling around saying that kids were being diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 19 due to using their Juul excessively.
This statement is not true due to the fact that lung cancer takes years to develop.
The text message circulating said, ” Announcement: one of Chris friends from college has never smoked weed or cigs but for the past year he has been an addictive Juuler like constantly which is basically like all of us and he was just diagnosed with lung cancer and his lungs are completely black, and he’s 19 and he’s probably going to die. Scotty and a few of my guy friends have thrown their Juul away.”
Despite the chain mail nature of this story, students across the nation took action. This screenshot was posted on Twitter, which then proceeded to spread through college campuses such as our own. Twitter users started creating a Twitter thread by posting videos of throwing their Juul out into the street or smashing them with hammers.
A clinical professor from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine by the name of Dr. Kien Vuu stated that it is unlikely that Juuling has a short term carcinogenic effect. It usually takes a long time from an exposure of a carcinogen before cancer forms.
“The contents within Juul capsules are unknown in many cases, so it is possible for people to develop bronchitis, bronchiolitis, or forms of acute lung injury which can be severe. The carcinogenic effects of these additional substances long term are unknown at this point; so to say that the contents of Juul has no carcinogenic effects would be unjustified- we just don’t know” he said.
At this point, the route of the rumors are unclear but it is said it could have something to do with an New York University study released last month claiming that vaping can result in an increased risk of heart disease and cancer.
This story was portrayed in a great manner due to supplying screenshots of what was posted on Twitter including the original texts. Including scientists with the real answers also answers the question for readers when learning about this issue.