Cardiologist Says FDA Is 'Late to the Show' on Teen Vaping Crisis
*By Carlo Versano*
The shocking rise in teen vaping is a public health crisis that the FDA has been slow to address, according to a nationally recognized cardiologist.
Dr. Kevin Campbell, who is also CEO of Pace Mate, a digital cardiac monitoring service, said the [recent study](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/e-cigarettes-single-handedly-drives-spike-in-teen-tobacco-use-cdc.html) from the CDC that linked vaping to a spike in teen tobacco use shows that more serious steps need to be take. The first step? Get rid of the flavored nicotine "pods," which Campbell said are acting as a gateway for teenage beginner vapers to get hooked on nicotine.
"We don't know the long-term health effects yet," Campbell said. "I can't emphasize that enough."
While popular vape products are unarguably "healthier" than combustible cigarettes, they still involve the delivery of an addictive drug (nicotine), that is known to do damage to the heart and blood vessels. And there is not enough data on the additives and preservatives that go into the pods.
"They may be doing deleterious things to our bodies as well," Campbell said.
One in five American high schoolers now vapes, according to the CDC, which is enough to cause alarm at the FDA. That agency recently announced a crackdown on vaping companies that market to teens, but that's not enough, in Campbell's opinion.
"I think the FDA is a little bit late to the show here," he said. It's going to require a national education program ー think D.A.R.E. for a new era ー that explains the unknowns and risks involved in vaping. "We need to get ahead of it," Campbell said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/teen-tobacco-product-use-on-the-rise).
Hologram communication platform maker PORTL is looking to take communication to the next level. Founder and CEO David Nussbaum joined Cheddar to talk about the company's recent $12 million Series A funding round that will be used to bring the concept of holoportation to market. Nussbaum noted his hologram technology is just not comparable to augmented reality or virtual metaverses because the image projection is happening in real-time and in actual reality. "Well, unlike VR or AR, we're 'R.' We're real. You don't need a headset. You don't need wearables. You don't need to download anything. It's incredible," he said.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales stopped by Cheddar's "Between Bells" to talk about his Birth of Wikipedia auction at Christie's putting two items linked to the origins of Wikipedia up for sale. On the auction block are his original strawberry iMac that was used to create the long-running online encyclopedia and what Wales described as an interactive NFT of his first Wikipedia edit rather than a static image. "Once it's been sold, the owner can turn it on, and anyone can edit the page and it will be reflected in the NFT," he said.
On this episode of Your Future Home, Carmine Satabella, Interior Designer & Television Host, joins to break down how to get the most out of your winter decor this year and basic kitchen fundamentals that go a long way; Max Child, CEO and co-founder of Volley, discusses the rise of voice games and how tech is continuing to change smart homes; Cheddar breaks down everything you need to know about how to start flipping homes.
China-based DiDi is delisting from the New York Stock Exchange after Chinese officials reportedly asked the ride-hailing company to do so. It will instead list on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
U.S. Futures were pointing to a higher open to round out the week despite a miss on the November Jobs Report, which showed slower job growth than expected-- and as the omicron variant continues to spread across the country. Patrick Healey, Founder & President at Caliber Financial Partners joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
It's a mixed bag for the November jobs report. Hiring slowed last month as employers only added 210,000 jobs, massively missing the estimate of 550,000. But there was one bright spot: the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, with the number of unemployed people dropping to 6.9 million. Both of those numbers are considerably down from their highs at the end of the 2020 recession. Heather Boushey, a member of President Biden's Council of Economic Advisers, joined Cheddar to discuss the report and the state of the country's ongoing economic recovery.
