E-Cigarettes Smoking - Essay Sample

Introduction

E-cigarettes are devices that heat a liquid into an aerosol that the user inhales. The liquid which is used in the device usually contains nicotine and flavouring in it as well as other additives. E-cigarettes come in different sizes and shapes (Grana, Benowitz & Glantz, 2014). Usually, the devices have a battery, a heating element and a place to hold a liquid. Other e-cigarette devices look like regular cigarettes, pipes or cigars. Others look like USB flash drives, pens and many other everyday devices. Different terms are used to refer to e-cigarettes, i.e. tank systems, vape pens, e-hookahs, mods etc. Most of the e-cigarettes contain nicotine and thus are considered as tobacco products (Grana, Benowitz & Glantz, 2014). Nicotine comes from tobacco which is contained in normal cigarettes. While e-cigarettes are likely preferable for your wellbeing over cigarette smoking, the fact is that e-cigarettes also have health effects on the body of an individual.

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E-Cigarette Smoking Statistics Among the Youth

E-cigarette smoking also referred to as vaping and JUULing is increasingly becoming common among the youths. E-cigarette hit the US market in 2007. Since then the popularity of its use has been increasing among American adolescents and teens. The use of e-cigarette smoking among the youths in the United States and the world, in general, is high. Statistics show that the use has dramatically grown in the last five years. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the use of e-cigarettes by high school students has jumped 78% since last year. Results also show that the use has increased by 48% among middle school students. By 2014, e-cigarette was the most abused tobacco product by high school and middle school students in the US. CDC conducted a cross-sectional voluntary school-based, self-administered, pencil-and-paper survey in 2018 to analyze the use of E-cigarettes among youths. The results from the survey show that among high school students, the use of e-cigarette increased to 20.8% in 2018 compared to 1.5% recorded in 2011. During the period between 2017 and 2018, E-cigarette use among high school students increased from 11.78% to 20.8%.

Figure: E-cigarette smoking statistics in the US

JUULs

This increased use of e-cigarette among the youths can be attributed to the increased popularity of JUULs as well as USB flash drive e-cigarette devices. These devices are easy to hide. They also have high nicotine content and come in different flavours which are appealing to the youth. The use of flavoured e-cigarettes has increased dramatically. Statistics show that the use of flavoured e-cigarette liquid increased from 60.9% to 67.8% among high school students last year. JUUL is a vaporised e-cigarette that uses Changeable, nicotine salt-based liquid cartridges and temperature regulation to produce vapor as an alternative to traditional cigarettes ("Quick Facts on the Risks of E-cigarettes for Young People", 2019). The JUUL is made such that the body is small and slim and also has a battery-powered light that indicates the charge level of the device. Since its introduction in 2015, the JUUL has become increasingly popular in the e-cigarette market. Data shows that the device use is over 70% market share in the e-cigarette market.

Figure: JUULs e-cigarette

Controversy Surrounding JUULs UsE

Besides containing different flavours, Juul also contains a high amount of nicotine. The increased trend of Juuls use among both adults and youths has resulted in many referring to the device like the iPhone of vaping. Critics argue that the use of the device is becoming an epidemic among adolescents. The federal regulators in 2018, declared youth is vaping an epidemic. The regulators demanded that action is taken against companies involved in e-cigarette making. Critics argue that Juuls use as health side effects, especially on the youth. The use of e-cigarettes among adolescents affects brain development among youths. Juuls exposes adolescents to nicotine which can cause addiction and harm to the developing brain. This controversy of the declaration of Juuls vaping resulted in the company announcing that it would pull its flavoured products from the stores.

Misconceptions Among People About the Use of E-Cigarettes

People have had different myths and misconceptions on the use of e-cigarettes. The most common is the misconception that e-cigarettes are harmless. However, research suggests that e-cigarettes have less dangerous health effects. The e-cigarettes can cause headaches, eye and throat irritation as well as cause damage to body cells and DNA (Sherratt et al., 2016). The flavours used in the e-cigarettes can cause permanent lung damage.

People also claim that e-cigarettes help cigarette addicts to stop smoking. This claim has been highly propagated by e-cigarette companies (Sherratt et al., 2016). Though this may happen to a few people, it is not the norm. Researches show that e-cigarette smoking is also addictive and thus cannot be considered to help stop smoking.

Lastly, another misconception on e-cigarette smoking is that cigarettes are dangerous because of the smoke and not the nicotine. This claim is, however, false as both the smoke and nicotine are dangerous. Nicotine is highly addictive and causes challenges in brain development. E-cigarettes though may not produce a much smoke like cigarettes, contains high nicotine content (Sherratt et al., 2016).

References

Grana, R., Benowitz, N., & Glantz, S. A. (2014). E-cigarettes: a scientific review. Circulation, 129(19), 1972-1986.

Quick Facts on the Risks of E-cigarettes for Young People. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/Quick-Facts-on-the-Risks-of-E-cigarettes-for-Kids-Teens-and-Young-Adults.html

Sherratt, F. C., Newson, L., Marcus, M. W., Field, J. K., & Robinson, J. (2016). Perceptions towards electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation among S top S moking S ervice users. British journal of health psychology, 21(2), 421-433.