Health & Wellness: To Vape or Not to Vape?

To Vape or Not to Vape?

By Beverly Calero

Limitless options for consumers drive today’s market. It seems as though there is a new product introduced every day in order to entice customers and to ensure that they keep coming back. One market that is currently being reinvented is the cigarette and tobacco industry. Two new products – e-cigarettes and “vapes” – have been added to the market to introduce a new generation to the power of smoking.

E-cigarettes and “vapes” are quickly becoming more and more common among smokers and, particularly, young smokers. Both E-cigs and vapes work essentially in the same way: they both promise a clean smoking experience without the hazards of smoke and pungent odor.

 

 

These seemingly harmless tools are deemed great by their produces since they allow you to smoke in public spaces where “analog” traditional cigarettes are prohibited. Since no smoke is produced and no foul odor, it is less of a nuisance when “lighting” up in public. Many companies even advertise under the tagline that E-cigs and vapes give you the freedom and the right to smoke whenever you want.

But how much do we know about the potential effects on health that smoking cigarette alternatives may cause? E-cigs and vapes are not regulated by the FDA – which means manufacturers are required to disclose little information about the chemicals that are being inhaled by consumers who smoke smokeless cigarettes. It is known that certain e-cigarette brands use varying quantities of pure nicotine – a derivative of tobacco- which can be equal to the amount found in a cigarette or contain even more.

The FDA has also published a report where a chemical called diethylene glycol -the same ingredient used in antifreeze – was found in certain brands of vapes. There have been other cases reported by consumers where they find that smoking these products has caused them to feel nauseous, dizzy and disoriented.

Currently, the FDA has expanded the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to include E-cigarettes and vapes under “tobacco products” in order for them to be subject to FDA regulatory control.

A number of other organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, the American Academy of Pediatricsand the Food and Drug Administrationhave concerns that e-cigs might increase addiction to and use of nicotine and tobacco products in children. The World Health Organization raises the concern of addiction from their use.

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