Retired Zanesville Thoracic Surgeon Publicly Derides Vaping

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Vaping is sometimes considered a safe alternative to smoking, but a retired Zanesville thoracic surgeon says the practice could be the biggest danger of our time.

“The worst of those right now is cartridge smoking which has been misnamed, so-called ‘vaping’. It’s not vapor at all. Vaping companies have lied to us. That’s a very dense, thick smoke that people are pulling into their lungs, and it’s killing their lungs. It’s not vapor; it’s a dense cloud that’s filled with heavy metals, with de-icing chemical agents, with chemical droplets and it fills up our lungs and destroys our lung function,” says Dr. Carl Schowengert. He is a former lung surgeon, in addition to thoracic surgery.

“I believe that unless those people who are smoking now stop soon, this habit is going to produce more deaths at an earlier age than cigarettes or the opiate epidemic. I’m not quite sure how to bring the point home. Let me ask you to think of pouring dirty motor oil into your lungs and letting it sit and then fill up all of your air spaces so you can’t breath. Think of the black smoke that’s rolling out of the oil refinery fire, sticking your head in that smoke and breathing it multiple times a day, that’s what you’re doing,” he adds.

Schowengert, who now provides his medical expertise to patients of Rambo Health Center in downtown Zanesville, points out smoking cessation services are provided at Rambo.