E-Cigarettes: they have dominated the scene in the United Kingdom and the teenage crowd- as well as older- in the US. Originally created as an alternate to giving up the traditional cigarette, which contains numerous chemicals of which we surely remember learning about in Health class, now smoking these electronic cigarettes is known as ‘vaping’, and E-cigarettes are feared to be re-normalizing smoking. Big cities like Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago are following through on bans on E-cigarettes from public areas, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. UK recently put out a ban on those under 18 from purchasing them, and adults can’t buy them for anyone under 18, either, as would be implied. Northern Ireland, Welsh government, and other EU countries are also making moves towards a similar ban. However, what are their reasons? Surely a cigarette with only nicotine and ‘nothing else’ isn’t that bad for you, or else it wouldn’t be around. Well… maybe not.
E-cigarettes aren’t regulated yet. Apparently the FDA was supposed to give a rule for regulations with E-cigarettes and other tobacco products, but until then, the bans continue to take place (like the ones in LA, New York City, and Chicago mentioned before). In a 2009 FDA test, it was found that diethylene glycol- and since you probably don’t know what that is, a toxic chemical found in antifreeze- was in some e-cig samples, along with some other carcinogens… cancer-causing chemicals, for those of you once again.
The facts behind E-cigs aren’t all found out just yet. Since they haven’t been around long enough to collect data regarding long term effects of vaping on health, it’s close enough to say that, despite their lack of a traditional cigarettes many lettered ingredients, nicotine is still highly addictive, and the fact that e-cigs come with fun flavors like Java Jolt, Cherry Crush, and Piña Colada, doesn’t really help the matter. In fact, it probably just brings in more customers around our age, maybe younger, to try it out for fun. Emitting a candy-like scent, teens and kids are trying e-cigs out, making them have all the more popularity. If they allow people who were former cigarette smokers to resume smoking, that’s not too good. If its target towards kids is successful or people who aren’t, or people who were on the verge of quitting just keep on smoking, it’s not good either.Further examples include that they look all the same as real cigarettes, so the behavior of smoking is being re-promoted. All the glamour of a cigarette is being made popular once again by the fashion of vaping, from the look of some of them being similar to that of Marlboro or Camel cigarettes, to the appearance of the vapor to traditional cigarette smoke.
Still, though, there are things about e-cigs that are better than normal cigarettes. Why else would they have been created, right? They give less exposure to nicotine, and according to some tests, the e-cigs do not change the concentration of gases like Carbon Monoxide and other gases in the air, unlike regular cigarettes. When a non-smoker of e-cigs is exposed to the vapor, they will have exposure to nicotine, obviously, but the exposure they have compared to that of the average second-hand smoker is roughly seven times less. Electronic cigarettes are much safer in terms of nicotine and other toxins, but it hasn’t been long enough to come to conclusions.
If you didn’t get the flow, the disadvantages keep outweighing the advantages. All in all, e-cigarettes are ‘cool’, sure. We go to the mall, and we see people trying to make little miniature tornadoes with the smoke, but when it comes to health risks, that’s what’s important. Such a new product with still so little information about it’s long-term health risks is nothing to play with. Domination in business is one thing, but once that domination begins to take over the minds of young teens and middle-schoolers, it’s up to the stats: how many people are actually quitting smoking, how many are stopping for real, and not sticking by e-cigs for their whimsical flavors and flavor names? It’s up to the FDA and time to tell us the effects.
