Essay Sample on Vaping: The Debate Over E-Cigarette Health Effects

Introduction

Vaping is the use of a battery-operated gadget known as the e-cigarette designed as an alternative to traditional cigarettes. The operation and construction of most vapers are not easy to understand, and that is where there is a fierce debate in modern society. Even though various studies have been unable to prove the effects of e-cigarette, the idea that the gas released affects the lungs has received less attention (Harvey, 2014). This is because the cartridge is placed as the central component of the e-cigarette alongside with battery and the atomizer. The essay will, therefore, argue that vaping is safer than cigarette smoking.

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Outline

Convectional smoking is more dangerous than E-Cigarettes. E-cigarettes cannot change the surface tension due to its microstructure (Susman, 2015).

Cancer is not formed by vapor but through smoking. According to a survey conducted by the Cleveland Clinic, it showed that e-cigarettes could not harm the human body as compared to long-term usage of nicotine (Jerry, Collins,&Streem, 2015). This is because the e-cigarettes do not produce smoke due to lack of tobacco.

Vaping does not come from formaldehyde. This is a colorless gas that has a strong odor develops at room temperature.

Vaping vs. Smoking

Every time this topic arises the best way to tackle is by making a comparison. The reason behind this direction is that vapes are designed to have less harm to the human body as compared to smoking. Another reason is that one should weigh between tobacco and vaping because most vapers were ex-smokers. Science plays a vital role when it comes to employing a direct comparison between smoking and vaping. Most people believed that while smoking is bad for people's health, vaping causes no harm. However, does vaping affect someone's health, and is it safer than smoking?

According to research conducted by public health in England discovered that vaping is 95 percent safer than traditional smoking. This was because vaping on its own is half the subject because its existence appears as an alternative to smoking. Even though many studies do a comparison the public health in England insisted that vaping must be measured against the information gathered on cigarette smoking.

How the E-Cigarette Works

Contrary to traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes do not produce smoke due to lack of tobacco. They mostly contain a separately packed liquid known as e-juice which is composed of flavours, glycerin, propylene glycol and sometimes nicotine. The cartridge is then placed as the central component of the e-cigarette alongside with battery and the atomiser. Usually, the atomisers are powered by the cell to produce heat which heats the liquid to produce vapour. When an individual inhale, the sensor activates the gas that gives them a sensation and intended taste drawn through the mouth.

The Creator of E-Cigarettes

The earliest version of e-cigarettes was first developed in 1963 by Herbert A. Gilbert. In 2003 the e-cigarettes were then modified by Chinese pharmacist known as Hon Lik (Caldwell, 2017). For several years after this modification, Hon Lik received international patients till 2007. Years later, the European and American consumers got access to the e-cigarettes, and since then, the tobacco company began marketing the product(Caldwell, 2017). Estimates have shown that this product has generated over $3 billion in sales all over the world. Many tobacco companies, individuals, and organizations later began to market the e-cigarette as a way to combat the effects of tobacco(Caldwell, 2017). Another discovery made by a scientific director Carl Philips showed that the reason why the e-cigarettes were developed was to reduce second-hand smoking.

In natural ways, various groups opposed to products that allure smoking. For instance, schools, parents, scientists, and addiction recovery organizations started a counter-movement immediately e-cigarettes were introduced. However, many feared that nicotine was still delivered to the users, particularly to the younger audiences. Most kids find vaporizers through the online means offered in the taste of candy, chocolate, soda, and other appealing flavorings.

Convectional Smoking Is More Dangerous Than E-cigarettes

Susman (2015), discovered that vapor from the e-cigarette regardless of the added flavor could not reduce the surface tension. On the other hand, conventional cigarettes inhibit the surfactant ability to reduce surface tension when compressed. This means that adverse effects were found in cigarette smoke when tar was induced, mainly when the product is burning. The explanation has elaborated the compression of surfactant has come from the formation of microstructure, which takes place in the organization of the surfactant molecules.

When a cigarette is burned, a microstructure is formed, and this makes the hill and valley to start appearing on the surfactant when compressed to make it acquire a larger surfactant. Susman (2015), did the study and discovered that vapor from the e-cigarette affects the microstructure, thus making it more comprehensive and get more hills. Even though the surfactant structure has to change, the study showed that slight modifications occurred due to the exposer of e-cigarette.

Cancer Is Not Formed by Vapor but Through Smoking

According to a survey conducted by the Cleveland Clinic, it showed that e-cigarettes could not harm the human body as compared to long-term usage of nicotine (Jerry, Collins, & Streem, 2015). This is because the e-cigarettes do not produce smoke due to lack of tobacco. Usually, cancer develops when the DNA cells are either damaged or mutated to the point that it grows out of control. Even though the tumor can remain local cancer can spread from one organ to another. In most circumstances, smoking is known to cause lung cancer. In America, lung cancer has killed not only smokers but also the victims that were affected by smoke.

Smoking is a habit that causes many kinds of cancer because not only do they develop when they contact smoke but also from by-products in the organs and bloodstream. A study conducted by the centers for disease control discovered that smoking causes cancer in any part of the body. Carcinogens have also found that when vapes are used at high levels, the risk of cancer is low.

Another study done by the journal Tobacco Control in 2017 found that vaping causes disease even if pharmaceutical products like nicotine patches are used (Chan, Morphett, Gartner, Leung, Yong, Hall & Borland, 2017). The only way vaping is considered risky is when carbonyls are formed when the vape device is overheating. The same study discovered that both cigarette smoke and e-cig vapor had their ability to cause cell mutations (Chan, Morphett, Gartner, Leung, Yong, Hall & Borland, 2017). Since smoke causes mutations, it becomes toxic to the bacteria, but vapor was not poisonous or mutagenic.

Nicotine a substance released from a cigarette has shown that there is a provable link between cancer and nicotine. Another report released by the Royal College of Physicians has been demonstrated that there is a long-term effect on individuals when they continue to smoke for a long time. As a result, the patient might get either gastrointestinal, lung, or any other cancer or cardiovascular diseases. In 2015, Researchers of Portland State University reported that long-term use of nicotine is not safe for the human lungs when the user smokes the cigarette for five years (Berlin, 2017). Health studies have shown that when such conditions are seen, the patients are advised to consume NRT for some time to dissociate them from cancer disease.

Do Vapes Contain Formaldehyde?

Formaldehyde is a flammable gas that has no color which gives a strong odor under room temperature. In other words, when a person is exposed to formaldehyde, it might affect their health. The same study conducted at Portland State University also discovered that even though e-cigarettes contain high levels of formaldehyde, cigarettes had the highest (Harari, 2016). One thing that the study never showed was whether the experiment was conducted in unrealistic smoking machines that had high voltage to produce vapor that a normal human being could not inhale.

When a similar experiment is done by putting bread in a toaster, it is evident that when the toaster emits the smoke, human beings cannot inhale because they contain carbon. Moreover, the dough cannot be consumed because it is carcinogenic (Harari, 2016). Similar, the toxic aldehydes produced by the atomizer and the burning wick is dangerous for the human being to inhale.

In 2017, Konstantinos Farsalinos a cardiologist replicated the experiment conducted by the Portland State University to show that when vapor is deliberately produced through overheating, it was unpalatable to human consumption (Humphrey, 2017). This is because when the emissions of formaldehyde are high, it causes unrealistic conditions that develop unpleasant taste as compared to puffs of the e-cigarettes.

In 2018, Gene Gillman and Farsalinos developed a systematic review from 32 studies to show that formaldehyde, acrolein, and acetaldehyde compounds were found in the vapor released by the e-cigarette (Vidrih, Zavrtanik, & Hribar, 2018). The same study also showed that all high levels of carbonyls, such as formaldehyde, were seen due to poor methodology. For future research, the proposed standards showed that vaping requires proper parameters such us standardizing puffing regime by using the realistic power settings and current-generation atomizers for the testing to appear accurate (Vidrih, Zavrtanik, & Hribar, 2018).

The authors also stated that when a person inhales 1 mg of formaldehyde every day and increases to 5 mg, they will only increase the intake of formaldehyde by 0.083gm. When compared to smoke, it is less than the average exposure someone smoking a cigarette will experience (Vidrih, Zavrtanik, & Hribar, 2018). The result show using e-cigarette is safer than smoking the cigarette. This publication was proved after people who stopped smoking cigarettes continued to use an e-cigarette.

A research conducted in the UK by the Cancer Research unit discovered that there was a reduction in toxic compounds and carcinogen for smoking addicts as compared to vaper addicts (Jang, Cotterchio, Borgida, Gallinger & Cleary, 2015). The same study made a comparison between the toxicants released from smoke and vapor and discovered that excess cancer over some time came from cigarettes. The data also showed that 1% of the disease was seen to appear in e-cigarettes.

E-cigarettes, in other words, are less harmful than smoking because of the lack of tobacco. When one inhales burnt smoke, their health will be damaged. When nicotine is removed from combustion, then the risk is reduced. This does not mean that e-cigarettes are harmless but to assure people that smoking has no health benefit.

References

Berlin, I. (2017). Varenicline in Stopping Long-Term Nicotine Use. The American Journal on Addictions, 21(2), 182-183. doi:10.1111/j.1521-0391.2011. 00210.x

Chan, G., Morphett, K., Gartner, C., Leung, J., Yong, H., Hall, W., & Borland, R. (2017). Predicting vaping uptake, vaping frequency, and ongoing vaping among daily smokers using longitudinal data from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Surveys. Addiction, 3(5). doi:10.1111/add.14537

Harari, S. (2016). Formaldehyde in textiles. Method for determination of total formaldehyde. Formaldehyde Is a Flammable Gas That Has No Color, 3(12), 70-92. doi:10.3403/00164476

Harvey, A. (2014). The cigarette as a style accessory. Critical Quarterly, 56(1), 83-87. doi:10.1111/criq.12089

Jang, J., Cotterchio, M., Borgida, A., Gallinger, S., & Cleary, S...