SCIENCE

Before reading:

1)    Do you know anyone who has died from a disease related to smoking? What effect did the habit have on that person’s health while still alive?

2)    Would you be more or less likely to try something if its potential risk to your health was unknown? Why or why not?

During reading:

1)    What was the main message of the Surgeon General’s 1964 report on smoking?

2)    How many people die prematurely each year in the United States because of smoking?

3)    When do most people start smoking?

4)    Why is it so hard to quit smoking?

5)    How do e-cigarettes work?

6)    According to health experts, why might an e-cigarette advertising promote traditional cigarettes too?

7)    E-cigarettes are a “bridge” to what? Why is that?

8)    List some of the compounds experts have identified in e-cigarette vapor.

9)    Describe the effect of nicotine on the brain.

After reading:

1)    Explain some of the reasons why the companies that make e-cigarettes might seek to target teens as new users.

2)    Smoking indoors is banned in many places. However, those bans do not always apply to e-cigarettes. How might that loophole make smoking, in general, more or less socially acceptable? Explain your answer.

SOCIAL STUDIES

1)    Should rules restricting the advertising, sales and labeling e-cigarettes be put in place? Working with a partner, each pick a side and present your argument.