Today Sunday I had a letter published in my PA county paper. A similar one was also published this month in NJ's largest paper The Star Ledger.
Text (shortened by editor):
Vaping can lead to disease
Your Oct. 6 Sunday’s paper (“On weed and vaping”) and Nov. 25 paper (“Cutting back tobacco excess”) editorials on vaping were spot-on. But an important point is missed.Vaping chemicals add to the risk pool for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Vaping also is addiction and leads to smoking. COPD is the third-leading cause of death. A generation of vaping children will add to the 30 million Americans with COPD and the estimated 15 million who are undiagnosed.
COPD usually shows symptoms in later years, when it is a progressive, irreversible, slow death of one’s lungs. If it’s caught early, people live a long, healthy life. Spirometry — a minute of blowing into a plastic tube — is a low-cost office test. Diagnosis can also be done by a sputum or blood test for inflammation markers to determine a specific disease.New drugs and devices can help to manage COPD better.
It is better to spend a few dollars on screening instead of billions in added health care costs and massive suffering. A partnership of the county’s medical centers, the county and the state could be proactive by holding an annual health fair to screen those who smoked and those who were exposed to secondhand smoke or chemicals at work.