Pediatrician likens vaping to 'Big Tobacco,' urges grandparents to warn teens

In response to a question about whether experiences with cigarette smoking apply to vaping, Dr. Safdar Medina drew an explicit comparison. "They can also talk about how their generation was, you know, for lack of a better word, conned into smoking cigarettes by Big Tobacco. And then this is Big Tobacco doing this all over again through vape products," he said.

Medina told grandparents they can use historical examples and family stories about tobacco-related harms to explain how industry marketing influences behavior and to set norms against vaping. He also noted that current youth exposures include nicotine vaping and cannabis products that differ from the cigarette-centered patterns many older adults remember, and advised grandparents to highlight those differences when talking with teens.