By Shauneen Miranda

Vaping has dominated youth culture, and regardless of recent reports on related lung diseases and even death, some University of Maryland students continue to use Juuls and other forms of e-cigarettes. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 500 vaping-related incidents have occurred throughout the U.S. and the Virgin Islands. Seven people have reportedly died from lung diseases related to vaping. 

Rebecca Yeh, a sophomore public health science major, began vaping during her junior year of high school. She pointed out the irony of being both a Juul user and a public health science student.

“When my friends Juul I’m… inclined to ask to hit theirs, but if they don’t, I don’t feel the need to use it,” Yeh said. 

Sam Covington, a sophomore agricultural sciences and technology major, also felt that his friends’ usage has impacted his Juul habit. He’s significantly reduced his vaping because of his parents. 

“I didn’t want to disappoint them and I knew it wasn’t good for me,” Covington said. 

Juul has been under fire from the FDA recently due to misleading advertisements. 

Axios reported that the FDA threatened both fines and product seizure over the company’s marketing techniques, which advertised the e-cigarette as less harmful than traditional smoking. 

UMD’s Health Promotion and Wellness Services has not released any statements or information on the dangers of vaping, but the UMD Residence Hall Association (RHA) passed a bill in April of 2019 that banned e-cigarettes in dorms.

Michael Purdie, a sophomore journalism student and RHA marketing and technology officer, said it’s hard to measure the effectiveness of the ban since the organization can’t see what’s going on in residents’ rooms.

“I’ve seen people using e-cigarettes such as Juuls outside of the dorms within the resolution’s parameters, so I realize it has not been entirely effective,” Purdie said. 

Purdie also pointed out the lack of research on the effects of e-cigarettes and its implications for RHA. 

“As an organization, we cannot advertise the dangers and claim things as fact when we don’t have the research to support it, even when these links to illnesses seem apparent,” Purdie said.

Many effects of vaping are still largely unknown. Yeh said she noticed shortness of breath while doing cardio, which she thought could be an effect of vaping. 

Effects can also occur directly after inhaling an e-cigarette. One study from the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention that aimed to find the effects of short-term e-cigarette usage concluded that most participants had an acute cough and increased heart rate after the study. 

“I didn’t really notice any effects except the immediate lung and throat pain, obviously,” Covington said. 

Future medical research on the effects of vaping and greater UMD outreach could influence students’ Juul usage, but the habit still persists on campus.