By Evetta McGriff
Vaping has become very popular with teenagers. The belief that e-cigarettes are safer than regular cigarettes has caused the increase in vaping. Some e-cigarettes are even advertised as a healthy alternative to cigarettes. In the beginning, the use of e-cigarettes was marketed to help people quit smoking. Vaping is less harmful than cigarettes, but e-cigarettes have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a tool to help quit smoking. What many people are unaware of is that e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive. In fact, e-cigarette users can get more nicotine than tobacco users if the voltage is increased and they can be used for other drugs.
Nicotine raises your blood pressure, which increases your heart rate and the likelihood of a heart attack. There are questions about whether vaping is bad for you, but what is clear is that when you smoke e-cigarettes, you are exposing yourself to unknown chemicals that may not be safe. Some of the labels for e-cigarettes do not have labels that disclose that they have nicotine, while those that are marketed as containing no nicotine have been found to contain nicotine.
Four years ago, it was reported that the use of e-cigarettes increased by 900 percent with teenagers, and 40 percent of those vaping had never smoked traditional cigarettes. Part of the pull of vaping is the lack of smell and smoke, which reduces what some consider shame when traditionally smoking.
There are other dangers associated with e-cigarettes. Vaping can lead to cardiovascular diseases, and some users have experienced seizures following use. If you use e-cigarettes, you breathe in tiny particles that can harm your lungs. Batteries in e-cigarettes that are defective have caused fires and explosions. There has also been a case reported of an e-cigarette exploding in the mouth of a teenager while he was vaping.
Although scientists are still learning about the long-term health effects of vaping, the bottom line is that e-cigarettes are unsafe for teenagers. The development of the brain continues into the early mid-20s, and vaping can harm the adolescent brain development. Young people who use e-cigarettes may be more likely to smoke cigarettes in the future and may also increase the risk for future addiction to other drugs. Even if using e-cigarettes does not lead to future cigarette smoking, vaping is unsafe and can harm different parts of your body. It makes it harder for you to concentrate, learn, or control your impulses.
Jan102020
