Sajila Nudrat | Health Editor
Featured Image: The appeal of vaping products among youth leads to potential promotional tobacco use. | Courtesy of Pixabay
Electronic cigarettes, more commonly referred to as e-cigarettes, seem to be all the rage nowadays. E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that appear similar to a cigarette or pen. Essentially, they are containers filled with a liquid that usually contains nicotine, various flavourings and other chemicals. To put it simply, it’s a heating device that turns the liquid into a vapour which is then inhaled. The act of using an e-cigarette is called vaping.
Some experts argue that vaping is a healthier alternative to smoking tobacco or cannabis. To a certain extent, that is true. According to Johns Hopkins medicine, e-cigarettes heat nicotine flavourings and other chemicals to create water vapor that is inhaled. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are highly toxic. Although it is not explicitly known which toxic chemicals are contained in e-cigarettes, an individual is still exposed to fewer chemicals than traditional tobacco cigarettes.
The primary toxin in both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes is nicotine, which is a highly addictive substance. It causes intense cravings, and withdrawal symptoms if those cravings are ignored. Nicotine is toxic, and can raise an individual’s blood pressure as well as spike their adrenaline, which increases heart rate. It can also contribute to heart attacks. Although e-cigarettes are not considered to be as dangerous as regular cigarettes, they are still worse than not smoking at all.
There are many other unknown toxins present in e-cigarettes. Researchers argue that the unknown substances can be as harmful as the known ones and that individuals are exposing themselves to all kinds of chemicals they may not know about. Though they may be less toxic, e-cigarettes are just as addictive as regular cigarettes, and their detrimental effects are still very much unknown.
According to the Canadian government, 13 per cent of Canadians have tried a vaping product, with youth and young adults leading the way.
There are a number of reasons why e-cigarettes may seem appealing. For starters, people believe that vaping is much less harmful than smoking. Secondly, e-cigarettes are cheaper than regular cigarettes. Lastly, vape cartridges can offer a variety of flavours such as apple and watermelon—something that appeals to younger users. However, due to this, individuals who may have never taken up the habit of smoking tobacco are turning to vaping, believing it to be a less harmful alternative.
Some of the toxic chemicals found in e-cigarettes vapor are also present in tobacco smoke. Compared to the 250 known harmful chemicals found in cigarettes (more than 60 of which are cancer-causing), researchers have found 31 potentially toxic compounds in vapors. Although e-cigarettes are a better alternative as opposed to regular cigarettes, that doesn’t necessarily make it a healthy alternative, it’s just a lesser of two evils.
