New Reports Reveal Dangers of Vaping
Have you ever been walking on campus and had someone blow a smoke cloud in your face? This experience has become all too familiar across college campuses as the popularity of vape products and e-cigarettes has surged in recent years. Unfortunately for those who do vape, many new reports have revealed the detrimental health effects vaping has on a person.
Vaping was originally proposed as a “better” alternative to smoking or a way to wean someone off of an addiction to cigarettes. Juul, a popular brand of vapes, advertised their products to have less damaging effects than traditional cigarettes, but this statement was never approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA sent Juul multiple letters regarding the legal effects of advertising of their product as safer to use compared to traditional cigarettes. In the letters, Juul was given just over two weeks to come up with a plan that fits with the FDA’s standards or they would face multiple legal downsides. This marketing technique has certainly affected the young population as well, with multiple reports stating that Juul representatives told teenagers their product was totally safe.
Despite this, as of Sept. 9, 2019, six people in the United States have died of lung problems due to vaping. The Center for Disease Control has also reported close to 500 possible instances of lung disease because of e-cigarette and vape use across the country.
Many vape products contain nicotine, which is a highly addictive chemical also found in traditional cigarettes, and some include tetrahydrocannabinol, the main ingredient in marijuana. However, the appeal of e-cigarettes for young people oftentimes comes from the different flavored “pods” that are offered. Many of these flavored pods include a chemical called diacetyl, which is extremely threatening to the lungs when inhaled through these pods. Vapes containing THC have also proven to be extremely dangerous to the lungs when inhaled. With young people consuming all of these chemicals, it makes for a perilous situation.
Because of all the detrimental effects so many of America’s youth are being exposed to, the Trump Administration is taking a stand against flavored e-cigarettes. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services is working to create a ban against all flavored e-cigarette products that have not been approved by the FDA.
Vaping was originally created to wean those addicted to traditional cigarettes off. Instead, it has created millions of nicotine-addicted teens across the country. If this fad does not end soon, many more will face serious health effects, or even death.
