Ohio State University is set to study the addictiveness of e-cigarettes with a substantial grant from the American Heart Association. The $5.5 million grant will be used to look at the impact of youth vaping, in both children and teens. The study will look into three main areas: the effects, both short- and long-term, of e-cigarettes on the brain, lungs, and heart; how to effectively reduce the appeal and addictiveness of e-cigarettes for young people; and the best methods to help young people quit e-cigarette use.

The team of researchers at Ohio State has already been working on vaping research, but this new grant money will allow them to work together with colleagues in the colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, and Engineering on a two-year project they’re referring to as VERIFY: Vaping’s End through Research and Innovation For Youth.

“This study engages experts across our medical center and health sciences colleges collaborating together,” said Dr. Hal Paz, executive vice president and chancellor for Health Affairs at The Ohio State University. “It’s vital to better understand what gets our youth addicted, the long-term effects on the lungs and heart and which cessation efforts are most effective.”

The VERIFY project has four goals:

• Pre-clinical testing of the health effects of e-cigarettes
• Surveillance-based testing of the behavioral and health effects of e-cigarettes
• Development of an e-cigarette product standard to reduce its addiction potential
• Development of an effective and scalable vaping cessation intervention

“Our hope is that these projects greatly advance our knowledge about youth vaping—in particular what impact it has on young people’s bodies and what the most effective approaches might be to help e-cigarette users, including young people, quit,” said Liz Klein, the principal investigator on the study. A recent study in JAMA says that teens may not associate Juuling with e-cigarettes and vaping.

“We’re pleased to receive this grant that will allow us to continue our work examining the health impacts of e-cigarettes and vaping. E-cigarettes are now the most commonly used tobacco product among youth, and there needs to be more research on youth e-cigarette use and addiction and ways to help users quit,” said Peter J. Mohler, vice dean of research at The Ohio State College of Medicine, in a press release.

The American Heart Association’s grant is part of a research initiative called ENACT: End Nicotine Addiction in Children and Teens. The initiative has given about $17 million in grants altogether to help fight back against the addictiveness of e-cigarettes. In the United States, Juul e-cigarettes have much higher amounts of nicotine, an addictive substance, than many realize.

Research teams at Boston University and Yale University also received grant money from the American Heart Association. The AHA noted that these grants are, historically, some of the highest individual grants it has ever awarded.

This effort from the AHA and research teams comes at a point when youth use of e-cigarettes continues to rapidly escalate. Millions of middle and high school students are now vaping on a regular basis, and the numbers are dramatically increasing year over year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned about the risks of e-cigarette usage among youth, and considers vaping an epidemic.

“I use the word epidemic with great care,” said former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., in a statement. “E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous—and dangerous—trend among teens. The disturbing and accelerating trajectory of use we’re seeing in youth, and the resulting path to addiction, must end…The FDA won’t tolerate a whole generation of young people becoming addicted to nicotine as a tradeoff for enabling adults to have unfettered access to these same products.”

If you or your child has become addicted to nicotine from e-cigarette use, or has suffered from nicotine side effects like nicotine poisoning, you may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue compensation.

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for informational purposes only.