E-Cigarettes Symposium Pre-Event Summary

The Rise of E-Cigarettes: Public Health Promise or Peril?

On Thursday October 19th, the Western New York Public Health Alliance and the New York State Public Health Association will be sponsoring a symposium on e-cigarettes. This symposium will be held at Holiday Valley Resort in Ellicottville New York from 10:00 am to noon.

The speaker for this event is Brian King, the Deputy Director for Research Translation in the Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) within the National Centers for Chronic Disease Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. King is responsible for providing scientific leadership and technical expertise related to multiple aspects of tobacco prevention and control.

Dr. King will be speaking about Electronic Cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes or e-cigs. These devices are part of a growing landscape of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) that include many types of products, such as vape pens and e-hookahs. This presentation will provide an overview of the public health challenges of e-cigarettes including patterns of use among youth and adults, potential harmful and beneficial impacts, advertising for these products and public interventions to minimize potential harms on public health.

This event will be free of charge and will be open to the public. People can register at eventbrite.com with the link eventbrite.com/e/e-cigarettes-hazard-or-help-sponsored-by-the-wnypha-and-nyspha-tickets-37486832124. The deadline to register is October 12th. For questions about this symposium, please contact the Cattaraugus County Public Health Department, Deb Nichols at DJNichols@cattco.org or 716-701-3383.

The Western New York Public Health Alliance (WNYPHA) is a not-for-profit organization comprised of the Health Commissioners/Public Health Directors and other community public health leaders from the eight counties of Western New York. Their mission is to support collaboration across WNY to further public health initiatives and priorities. As part of this mission, the WNYPHA works to provide health education and information to prevent disease and improve population health. For more information on this article or the WNYPHA, please contact Christine Schuyler, Public Health Director for Chautauqua County at 716-753-4590 or Lori Ballengee, Public Health Director for Allegany County at 585-268-9250.