Mickey Starling
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Over the past several years, nicotine use in the US has been steadily dropping. That trend is rapidly disappearing with the growing popularity of vaping, which is the smoking of electronic cigarettes. Teens have been especially attracted to vaping because of the sleek designs and various flavors available for the devices.
While vaping does not leave smoke hanging in the air or attaching itself to clothing, nicotine, the addictive, oily substance found in traditional cigarettes, is found in abundance. Vaping devices are battery operated and use liquid-filled pods that can be flavored. The “smoke” that results from vaping is, as you might expect, a vapor. Not all vaping pods contain nicotine, but the most popular brand, Juul, is loaded with nicotine. One pod of Juul contains the same amount of nicotine as 20 cigarettes. “Nicotine is dangerous and it can have negative health effects,” said US Surgeon General Jerome Adams. “It can impact learning, attention and memory, and it can prime the youth brain for addiction.”
These are just some of the factors that are alarming healthcare professionals. Vaping results in the inhaling of nicotine, flavorings and toxicants that the Surgeon General has deemed as harmful or potentially harmful. Of course, nicotine is addictive and it triggers changes in the adolescent brain. Vaping also exposes the lungs to dicetyl, which can cause “popcorn lung,” a severe and irreversible lung disease.
Though vaping was originally developed to help smokers kick the habit, very few users of e-cigarette products ever quit smoking and studies show that vaping often leads teenagers to try regular tobacco products, according to medicalnewstoday.com. Presently, 3.6 million teens in the US are vaping, with a national average of 20 percent of highschoolers and five percent of middleschoolers taking hits of the e-juice. In Jefferson County, the averages for teen vaping have not been released, but in Madison County, the averages are higher, with 27.8 percent of kids from 10 to 17 years of age smoking electronic cigarettes. Underscoring the impact of popular vaping products, such as Juul, Adams stated, “We do know that these newer products, such as Juul, can promote dependence in just a few uses.”
These products may be new and flashy, but the dangers are still very present and health professionals are sounding the alarm that these products are anything but a safe alternative to cigarettes.