Dangers Of Vaping And Nicotine Revealed

On Wednesday, October 16th, PHAST club (Protecting Health and Slamming Tobacco) held an assembly aimed to educate students on the perils of nicotine addiction.  Victor DeNoble was the featured speaker and held the audience captivated as he delivered his 40-minute presentation.

 

Victor DeNoble was once a research scientist for the “Big Tobacco” company Philip Morris.  Philip Morris hired DeNoble in the late 1970s to research in a top-secret lab if a cigarette that caused no cardiovascular damage could be developed.  DeNoble concluded after years of experiments on lab rats and monkeys that in fact, a non-addictive, non-cardiovascular harming product existed.  On April 15, 1984, when DeNoble informed Philip Morris of his discovery, he was called into his boss’s office, reminded of his confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement, and was promptly fired.

 

Nearly a decade later, still armed with the knowledge that tobacco companies were knowingly marketing nicotine that they knew was not only addictive but caused the brain to be altered, DeNoble needed a way to become a whistle-blower.   That opportunity came in 1994 when then FDA Chairman David Kessler needed those with knowledge of nicotine and Big Tobacco’s lies to the American public to appear before a congressional committee investigating tobacco’s health effects.

 

DeNoble needed a way to break the bonds of the non-disclosure agreement, so he sent the FBI evidence in the form of photos – taking care to leave no name, no return address, no postal marks from even the state he lived in.  The only trace of his identity was his fingerprint on the film.  Despite this, the FBI found him and President Bill Clinton sent the Secret Service to protect DeNoble until he could testify in court.

 

Now, at age 69, having testified in front of Congress just how much the Tobacco companies had knowingly deceived the American public, DeNoble spends his time speaking to youth and schools.  He averages 2-3 talks a day when he visits Stanislaus County and annually speaks to about 350,000 students a year.

 

When he spoke to Hughson High School this week, DeNoble not only told his story, but he also helped HHS students to understand and see the new crisis affecting the nation – Juul and electronic cigarettes.

 

“I think it was so important to bring Mr. DeNoble to speak to our students because I think many of them do not fully understand the ramifications of e-cigarettes,” explained Mrs. Ruelas, PHAST club advisor. “They do not realize that Juul especially contains so much nicotine that it is not even permitted to be sold in the European Union because it has three times the nicotine of other e-cigarettes.  Every time someone smokes a Juul, they basically smoke the equivalent of several packs of traditional cigarettes, but the United States does not have regulations on them yet and students just don’t have this knowledge.”

 

DeNoble explained during his presentation that any drug, even nicotine, alters the brain physically and causes the brain to continue to crave and want more nicotine or drugs for 6-10 years even after a person has quit using.  This statistic was proved by DeNoble by looking at the brains of former drug and nicotine users.

 

“I super loved hearing from Victor DeNoble. He shared great information that made sense and did it in a way was understandable and funny. Well delivered,” said Emily Olsen, senior.