Teens are taking to vaping in epidemic proportions to breathe in nicotine vapors, says the Federal Drug Administration. For those who wonder how harmful vaping is, substance abuse expert Susan Collins, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and co-director of the Harm Reduction Research and Treatment Center at UW Medicine, explains how vaping works.

In short, vaping eliminates most of the toxic chemicals in cigarettes, but it can hook teens on nicotine for life and harm their developing brains. (See related blog item).