The Billings Gazette, Oct. 14, on child doctors vaping concerns:
Are e-cigarettes safe? That’s a question Dr. Tanya Jagodzinski hears frequently at the Children’s Clinic in Billings. Her answer is “no.” She doesn’t recommend vaping for children or adults.
As e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems have become far more popular with teens than cigarettes, the biggest myth is that the electronic devices are safe, Jagodzinski said. “As pediatricians, we’ve been concerned about the nicotine effect on brain development, learning, memory and attention.”
Kids as young as 10 have vaped in Billings, according to Dr. David Higgins, a pediatrician with Billings Clinic.
Publicity about the severe, sometimes fatal, lung illness linked to vaping has finally got people’s attention for the warnings pediatricians have been sounding for years.
“Vaping is not a safer way to smoke. That’s a perception that teens have,” Higgins told The Gazette. Adolescent use has skyrocketed with kid flavors that taste great.
“I’m talking about this with my patients every day,” Higgins said.
Dr. Cathy White, a pediatrician in Butte who has practiced for 32 years, has “seen way more asthma” in recent years, a trend she attributes in part to vaping. Children as young as 7 have tried vaping, she said. She’s heard of contests where youth attempt to vape an entire Juul pod in one sitting. A pod contains as much nicotine as a whole pack of cigarettes. Young patients have told her they walk into the school restroom and smell fruity and candy vaping flavors. “It smells so good,” they say.
White worries about “third-hand smoke,” the residue of toxic and carcinogenic vaping chemicals that remains on tables, chairs and other furnishings after someone vapes indoors. Even toddlers are exposed to third-hand vaping if their parents or older siblings vape.
White also sees teens who vape suffering from depression, one of the problems that research indicates vaping may cause.
Nicotine by itself is highly addictive. Recent research indicates that combining nicotine with sweet flavors may increase the likelihood that a user will continue to use. Pediatricians worry especially about the effect of nicotine on young people’s brains which are not fully developed until around age 25.
White is president of the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which issued a statement last week applauding Gov. Steve Bullock’s announcement of a 120-day public health emergency ban on sales of flavored vaping products in the state. Bullock said the ban, issued under authority of state law, would take effect on Oct. 22.
The pediatrician’s group cited several disturbing reasons to discontinue sales of fruit and candy-flavored vaping products:
. 58% of Montana high school students report having vaped, according to a statewide survey earlier this year.
. 30% report regular use.
. Harmful toxicants and carcinogens in vaping aerosols may affect people near the e-cigarette user in much the same way that secondhand smoke affects nonsmokers, according to research reviewed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
. Vaping products have hooked children and teens with flavors like cotton candy and gummy.
Last month the Trump administration proposed a nationwide ban on candy and fruit flavorings in vaping products, but there has been no announced timeline for actually doing that. The FDA has authority to regulate vaping products, but has not done so. A lawsuit by public health advocates resulted in a ruling that requires FDA action by next spring.
Bullock’s ban calls attention to the urgency of preventing today’s young people from risking their health on products that haven’t been proven safe and may ultimately be as dangerous as cigarettes.
E-cigarette merchants say they are in business to provide adult smokers with an alternative to traditional cigarettes. They offer products to help smokers quit, they say. The ban on fruit and candy flavors won’t interfere with that adult market niche.
However, we know that thousands of Montana teens (and millions of U.S. teens) and even children have been vaping with shocking frequency. If the kids stop using, there will a drop in sales - and a significant increase in young brain and lung health.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2MkS2AP
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The Missoulian, Oct. 13, on child care cost solution:
Child care in Missoula is expensive - if parents can even find a provider in the first place.
Last year the Montana Department of Labor and Industry compared the number of child care providers to the number of children younger than 5 years old in Missoula County, and discovered that the potential clientele was more than double the capacity.
So what do parents do? With housing costs also sky high and wages rising excruciatingly slowly, having one parent stay home with young children simply isn’t an option for many families. In fact, the labor force participation rate of Missoula County moms exceeds 70%, according to recent data provided in the DLI report.
Instead, desperate parents turn to friends, family members and unlicensed providers who may or may not offer safe, healthy learning environments during those critical early years of development.
Either way, parents pay a lot for this necessary service. Earlier this year the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce gathered information from 550 local residents in a survey that found respondents were paying more than $600 per month for child care, with infant care the most expensive at more than $800 per month.
Such a major expense can severely hobble low-income families already struggling to get by. It also creates a drag on local economies in need of a growing workforce by discouraging parents who can afford to stay home with young children from working instead. The Chamber survey noted that 47% of respondents had either scaled back or completely abandoned their jobs due to child care issues. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Missoula is low and dropping lower, nearing just 3%, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Despite the high cost and significant need, child care providers are not getting rich off parents’ predicament. The average annual income of child care workers in Montana is only $22,360.
The situation grew even more dire this year when state legislators failed to continue funding a fledgling preschool program, leaving Montana one of only six states in the nation with no public preschool (the others are Idaho, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and New Hampshire). The end of the pilot program and the loss of federal grants put an estimated 1,400 preschool slots for 4- and 5-year-olds at risk.
But as the problem has gotten worse, it has also attracted wider attention - along with some creative solutions.
One promising approach organized under the United Way of Missoula County is aimed at building a community-wide connection between parents, caregivers and other organizations serving young children. The Zero to Five initiative was launched by the Headwaters Foundation in December 2018 in four pilot counties: Missoula, Flathead, Silver Bow, and Lewis and Clark. In Missoula, working groups with Zero to Five have been meeting regularly to focus on improving access to high-quality child care and enhancing support for families.
Earlier this month, a panel organized by the initiative shared some insights into current barriers. Local child care providers in attendance noted that the cost of renting a home or larger facility in Missoula is one significant challenge. State insurance laws are another; they can limit some providers looking to save money by operating out of their own homes.
A representative from the Missoula Chamber of Commerce, which is spearheading its own child care initiative, discussed the potential of building momentum to loosen some these restrictions in the next legislative session.
In the meantime, local businesses would be wise to watch and learn from such firms as Submittable, a tech company that recently opened its own child care facility. The software company’s new Kid Care facility is located inside its Missoula building so parents can drop in any time, and currently includes four staff caring for eight children 2 years old and younger.
That’s a powerful incentive for potential employees who are also parents of young children - one that businesses hoping to expand might want to study. Submittable, for one, landed $10 million in capital investment over the summer and has plans to add 150 positions to its current workforce of about 100 employees.
On the provider side, a new company is breaking ground for entrepreneurs interested in running their own small business and finding a way to make child care a viable career. MyVillage, started by two Montana moms, franchises child care operations run out of provider homes and handles all the headaches involved with marketing, licensing, insurance, billing and myriad other small-business duties. The company also acts as a resource for information about early education, best practices for child care providers, curriculum options and more.
Earlier this year co-founder and CEO Erica Mackey told the Missoulian that a provider caring for six children full-time can earn about $65,000 a year. Running child care operations from their own homes helps providers keep expenses down, which allows them to keep rates affordable for parents.
Mackey and her business partner, Elizabeth Szymanski, landed nearly $6 million in venture capital, the largest round of seed funding in Montana history and a good indication of the rising importance of creative child care solutions.
This isn’t a problem borne just by parents. And there isn’t one simple fix for Missoula’s affordable child care crunch. But it’s encouraging to see the issue being addressed from so many different sides and discussed by the wider community.
Now, let’s work together to solve this problem.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/32mEwCy
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