There will be over 82 million people using vapes in 2022 with a high percentage of these being young adults. Having only been on our shelves for the past 10 years, what are the emerging threats of vaping?
Life Threatening
Most vaping devices are facing a ban in the USA as more deaths are occurring linked to vaping. Life-threatening diseases are emerging from the vape fluid filling up lungs. Known effects on brain development, which is crucial in young adolescence, also exist. According to the CDC, using e-cigarettes is unsafe for kids, teens, and adults. E-cigarettes expose a higher level of nicotine than regular cigarettes. With disposable vapes containing 5% of nicotine, the equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes.
More and more people are taking up vaping as their first time smoking. Due to the high levels of nicotine, the addictions are a lot worse. Interestingly, those who do vape notice side effects almost immediately. Reports of tight chest pain, gum pain, headaches, bad cough, sore throat, and irritability when they go without vaping.
Lynn Kozlowski of the University at Buffalo studies nicotine and cigarette addiction. He focuses his discussion on how it affects young adults and teens. When asked in a recent interview about how the health risks of vaping compared to smoking, he stated that,
“Cigarettes kill at least 1-in-2 smokers prematurely and cut smoker’s lives short by an average of 10 years due to cancer, obstructive lung disease and cardiovascular disease. There is not yet any long-term epidemiological data available on e-cigarettes. But U.S. and British assessments have concluded that while vaping is likely to be substantially less harmful than cigarettes, it is not risk-free. Potential harms include nicotine addiction as well as some cardiovascular risks, though these are estimated to be lower than risks from cigarettes.”
Keep in mind that smoking tobacco and cigarettes have been around since 5000 BC. There have been decades of research into the effects of smoking cigarettes, and further studies are still happening. Vaping has only been on our shelves for the past ten years. There is very little knowledge of the long-term effects of this device is known to us.
Environmental Threat
We are at the cliff edge of climate change, and smoking habits are not only causing damage to our health but to the planet too. Dr. Ruediger Krech, Director of Health Promotion at WHO stated that,
“Roughly 4.5 trillion cigarette filters pollute our oceans, rivers, city sidewalks, parks, soil, and beaches every year.”
While in the report by Truth Initiative, an organization who works to inspire lives free from smoking, vaping, and nicotine, they stated that,
“E-cigarette waste is potentially a more serious environmental threat than cigarette butts since e-cigarettes introduce plastic, nicotine salts, heavy metals, lead, mercury, and flammable lithium-ion batteries into waterways, soil, and wildlife.”
The e-cigarette was invented in 2003. Vaping didn’t become popular until roughly 2010, when it has since non-stop grown in popularity, especially among young teenagers.
When asking young adults and teens why they use vapes the responses began to overlap. Most users stated that it is cheaper in the long run than smoking cigarettes. A disposable vape costs roughly $10 for the equivalent of 1-2 packs of cigarettes worth of nicotine. It is also due to the variety of flavors that people particularly like vaping more than cigarettes. In only one case amongst our generation, I found that someone was using a vape to replace smoking cigarettes. This is what its primary purpose was when released but unfortunately is not the case for everyone using the device. The effects that this device has on our health and climate change in its short time on the markets are enough to fear the future of vaping.
For further information on the effects of vaping, you can visit CDC.
For help dealing with addictions, click here.
