Area schools join US vape lawsuit | News, Sports, Jobs – Altoona Mirror

Oct 29, 2022
Five more area school districts, including Bedford Area and nearby Penn Cambria, have filed federal lawsuits in an effort to stem the tide of vaping among students.
Superintendent William Marshall of Penn Cambria, headquartered in Cresson, said his district has launched an effort to explain the health care risks involved with vaping and the use of e-cigarettes and has further addressed the problem in the district by installing sensors in the schools and by placing surveillance cameras on school buses.
Those measures have reduced, but not eliminated vaping among Penn Cambria students, he said Thursday.
When asked if vaping was a problem in the district, he noted all districts are dealing with vaping.
He explained it is important to identify the students who are using vapes so the health risks can be emphasized.
But, he explained, vaping is not just a problem among high school students.
“We are seeing it getting down to the lower grades also,” he explained.
He said his district has joined with a series of federal lawsuits being filed not only by Pennsylvania school districts, but by districts throughout the nation, in an effort to help pay for the costs incurred in dealing with the problem.
He gave an example, noting that a student last year attempted to flush a vaping device down a toilet and it ended up clogging the toilet, causing an overflow.
Allen Sell, superintendent of the Bedford Area School District, said, “I think it (vaping) is a problem everywhere.”
He said that the real truth is that “we don’t know what all the health problems are.”
Stemming the use of vapes and e-cigarettes “has become a big deal for us,” he reported.
Sell said the district is working with its solicitor in an attempt to recoup the costs that have been incurred due to vaping.
Both superintendents pointed out that the lawsuits brought on their behalf by the law firm of Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham LLP of Butler are at no cost to the districts.
The lawsuits have been filed in the U.S. District Court in Johnstown.
They are among seven school districts in the Johnstown District Court that have filed such lawsuits against JUUL Labs Inc. of San Francisco, a major manufacturer of vapes and e-cigarettes, the Altria Group Inc. of Richmond, Va., which has become a partner with JUUL, and Philip Morris USA Inc., a major producer of cigarettes.
There have been 31 school districts in western Pennsylvania that have filed lawsuits.
The initial lawsuits from this area were filed by the Johnstown Area and Meyersdale school districts.
Bedford and Penn Cambria along with Berlin Brothersvalley Forest Hills and Windber Area School District have filed the most recent lawsuits.
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