E-cigarette use has exploded in popularity and use over the past several years; however, what makes this particularly concerning is its popularity among teenagers with a whopping 27.5% of high school students admitting to currently using e-cigarettes (Setty 2019). Some might argue that it is not as bad as smoking cigarettes, but not so fast. Research has shown traces of heavy metals such as aluminum, iron, tin, copper, zinc, and lead to be present in the inhaled vapor (Williams 2019). This is thought to occur because the intense heat generated within the e-cigarette used to vaporize the liquid may also cause the metals to leach into the liquid. Harmful chemicals such as diacetyl and formaldehyde are also inhaled which are known to pose a risk to an individual’s lungs (Broderick). All of that is aside from nicotine being a highly addictive drug with about half of smokers attempting to quit annually, but only about 6% being successful (CDC 2010). Those statistics should be extremely worrying when considering that so many young people who start smoking are completely unaware that they may likely be unable to break their new habit. The most concerning aspect of this should be how little we really know about long-term effects of e-cigarette use. They have become mainstream only recently, so scientists and doctors do not know what the long-term health effects of their use are. It is very possible that the health effects of vaping may not become evident until the the next several years or even decades.
All of this is complicated by the fact that many e-cigarettes are designed to look like inconspicuous items such as pens or USB’s (making it easy for minors to hide them from their parents), and popular e-cigarette brands such as JUUL being widely accused of marketing to those minors and even being taken to court on this charge by environmental groups, the North Carolina DA, a Florida law firm, and many other groups and individuals. The vaping crisis has gotten so out of hand that the federal age for sale of tobacco products was raised from 18 to 21 last year. I’m curious to know what other people think about this issue. Is raising the age for tobacco sales a good start, is there no effective way to combat teenage vaping, or is it not even that big of an issue?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Quitting smoking among adults—United States, 2001- 2010. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2011;60(44):1513-1519.
Setty, G. (2019, November 5). More than half of teens who vape use Juul and its mint pods are No. 1 flavor in high school, new studies show. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/05/more-than-half-of-teens-who-vape-use-juul-new-studies-show.html
What Does Vaping Do to Your Lungs? Hopkins Medicine. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/what-does-vaping-do-to-your-lungs
Williams, M., Li, J., & Talbot, P. (2019). Effects of Model, Method of Collection, and Topography on Chemical Elements and Metals in the Aerosol of Tank-Style Electronic Cigarettes. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50441-4
I think this a very pertinent issue in todays society that you are presenting. What I think the main problem is for most people is that they either are misinformed about e-cigarettes and vaping or they do not know the information associated with them. I had no idea about the items present when it is inhaled and I think several people do not know that as well. So, the best possible starting place for reducing this spread of use id through education and awareness of what these are currently doing to the body. I do think it is a very important issue as stated with the statistics in the post and it is good that people are taking notice. I am interested to see what the long term affects are as well because that will determine if more or less people will continue to use these products. This was a very informative and important post and I hope more research is conducted to learn more about in what ways these products can affect individuals.
ReplyDeleteThe crazy part is that e-cigarettes were originally made as a tool to help smokers stop smoking. I have seen the exact opposite effect. Many of my friends started out smoking JUUL's but when they became addicted, they switched to cigarettes as a way to stop. You said in your post that only 6% of smokers quit annually. I wonder if those numbers are even lower for e-cigarettes due to their increased nicotine and more habitual use.
ReplyDeleteJason,
ReplyDeleteThis topic is extremely relevant because it has negatively affected so many naive kids who do not realize what they are getting into, including both of my foolish younger brothers. I found this very interesting study that explored the reason why high school kids began vaping. According to the study, 63.4% of kids claimed that they started vaping simply because it tasted good, and it was entertaining (Evans-Polce, Patrick, Lanza, et al., 2018). Too many young kids have found themselves fall into nicotine addiction because they did not fully understand what they were doing. Recently, Colorado passed an enormous taxation law on nicotine and tobacco products, and the law has really made me start thinking about ethics. Knowing that this surge of nicotine addiction is currently a plague on America’s youth, is this new taxation law really a means to discourage the use of nicotine products? Or is it just a new way to suck money out of this rapidly growing population of young nicotine addicts? The nicotine addiction is one of the hardest habits to break, so this tax increase will not discourage users to quit. It will only amplify this bad habit as more of a financial burden to the consumer. Thinking specifically about justice, this law appears to be attacking the wrong aspect of the problem. It is targeting young consumers instead of the vaping/e-cig companies that trapped them in nicotine addiction. Perhaps the hundreds of millions of dollars this new law is supposed to generate in tax revenue can be used to educate and assist kids in breaking their nicotine addiction.
Evans-Polce, R. J., Patrick, M. E., Lanza, S. T., Miech, R. A., O'Malley, P. M., & Johnston, L. D. (2018). Reasons for Vaping Among U.S. 12th Graders. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 62(4), 457–462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.10.009