The popularity of e-cigarettes is sky-rocketing. Over 2 million middle and high school students report using these. Over the past three years, the number of youth using e-cigarettes has tripled. Moreover, in the United States, the retail sales of e-cigarettes has increased 2000% from the years between 2010-2014. Why are they so popular?
Some people think they are safer than conventional cigarettes because the delivery of the nicotine differs; e-cigarettes emit vapor as opposed to smoke. However, they jury is not out on this. These e-cigarettes are so new. There is no long-term study to show their safety or danger. The burden really should be on the e-cigarette manufacturers to prove their safety; but, there is no national governmental regulation of e-cigarettes. As a result, the manufacturers market these products to our youth, they add popular flavoring agents, and they freely market these products as relatively safe. Our youth are being preyed upon, and their health may well be at risk.
Again, the jury is not out. Numerous experts and studies have been done on these products. The concerns with these products include:
- the nicotine contained is addictive, especially for adolescents
- these products are still tobacco products
- poisonings to young children have been reported
- these may be a gateway to conventional cigarettes
- there are unknown long-term health risks
- the nicotine contained may promote the growth of various cancers
- the nicotine is known to “re-wire the brain circuitry” of adolescents
- there is insufficient information on the inhalation of the contained flavoring agents, glycerin, and propylene glycol
- a vaporization product of these is formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, and is 15 times greater with these than with conventional cigarettes.
- smoking behavior may once again become something thought of as “normal”
- may compromise the immune system
- children are two to three times more likely to try e-cigarettes than conventional cigarettes. Those children using e-cigarettes are seven times more likely to state they will try conventional cigarettes within two years.
The sources for this summary of reports include WebMD Video, the CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, Dr. Fadlo Khuri, the Huffington Post, the New England Journal of Medicine, January 2015, the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, the University of Michigan, and a recent study in Wales, UK. For more information on this subject matter within my website, we invite you to view this link.
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