Vaping
As traditional cigarette smoking was declined worldwide, tobacco companies have turned to a new product line to make up for lost revenue: vaping products. E-cigarettes provide users with a hit of stimulating nicotine without the incinerated stick of tobacco that traditional cigarettes contain. Vape products are marketed as safer and less risky alternatives to cigarettes, and there are a few studies that support this claim, although there isn't enough evidence to make a long-term definitive conclusion. Furthermore, some research suggests that they lead young users to try traditional cigarettes, in a way acting as a gateway drug. Thus, vaping has become a controversial debate among public-health specialists, where some are pushing for more regulation of e-cigarettes while others see vaping products as a valuable tool to help smokers quit.
Evidence suggests that vaping is a safer choice than traditional smoking, and a 2016 study concludes that vaping devices produce only 5% of the mortality risks associated with smoking. However, even if the products help people stop smoking, there is a worry that they'll instead become addicted to vaping. Another concern is that as the practice becomes increasingly normalized, it will attract more people who never would have smoked in the first place. The effects of nicotine on humans are not well-studied, but recent evidence suggests that it can harm brain development in adolescents. A National Academies study found that young vapers are more likely than non-vapers to try regular cigarettes.
Source:
https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/e-cigarette-update
Interesting post and also very relevant right now! I think it's also interesting that you mentioned how in order to make up for lost revenue cigarette companies turned to vaping as an alternative to make some of that money back, however, an idea that seemed like it would do good at first actually ended up doing more harm than good as the backlash of getting people into vaping has caused the epidemic of people getting addicted to vaping, more importantly teenagers.
ReplyDeleteIt's really tough to gauge the damage that vaping does given how recent the come up has been. I can see in 5-10 years from now, numerous studies regarding the health effects of vaping. For the moment, we have to go off of what basic information we have. I actually think that initially, electronic cigarettes were a great idea. They are much safer than cigarettes. However, when they began to tap into a consumer base that was unlikely to smoke in the first place, teenagers, that's when it becomes harmful.
ReplyDeleteLike Kabir said, I think that the original concept of e-cigarettes as a method to quit smoking is a really useful one, as vaping allows nicotine addicts to wean themselves off of smoking cigarettes while being able to eliminate some of the toxic elements in cigarettes. However, I believe that the vaping industry has found a massive consumer base in the form of teenagers, because of the marketing strategies they use. Companies like Juul create flavors like "mango, cucumber, fruit and creme" that attract young people far more than they would be attracting older users. These teenagers are not all going to already be nicotine addicts from cigarette smoking, and many would likely be getting a nicotine addiction from vaping, rather than fixing their addiction with it. Fortunately, for the time being, a lot of these "fruity" flavors have been banned from being sold in stores as a way to put preventative measures from teens having easy access to them.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/09/juul-to-stop-selling-mango-other-e-cigarette-flavors-in-stores.html