The two greatest concerns about electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) is their safety and addictive potential. While there are a few benefits when compared to regular cigarettes such as being less costly and slightly healthier, their toxic potential and minimal regulation may pose greater dangers to their users than tobacco.
When you first think of an e-cig, it seems harmless. It’s only water vapor after all! But to understand the true components of both regular and non-nicotine e-cigs, we must look at their main ingredients. Scientific American reports that both types of e-cigs contain flavoring, propylene glycol, and, this might shock you, nicotine. Even non-habit forming electronic cigarettes contain nicotine! But beyond the presence of this addictive chemical, studies of the impact of e-cigs on the body have revealed diminished lung capacity, airway inflammation, and cellular changes—all regardless of previous cigarette usage. One of the most common reasons for smoking e-cigs is to help users to quit smoking. However, multiple studies by Web M.D., Live Science, and Scientific American have not only proved that they are ineffective but also that e-cigs are a type of gateway drug which one study linked to an increased chance of trying real tobacco. For being advertised as safe, there seem to be some definite repercussions of vape pens, e-cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco.
The greatest danger behind this new technology, which increases the multiple health risks, is the low quality control of the products. Often, dangerous carcinogens and heavy metals find their way into the flavoring of all types of e-cigs. Some of the most common are formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and diethylene glycol (a toxin found in anti-freeze). The summation of all of these toxins and the various nanoparticles such as tin, chromium, and nickel have also been tied to the exacerbation of asthma, heart disease, and strokes. And these are only some of the short-term risks! Electronic cigarettes haven’t been in the modern market long enough to have the long-term effects cataloged by scientific study. Hopefully, the results of these findings will be enough for you to reconsider the tentative benefits in light of some of the dangers of indulging in smokeless tobacco.
Although electronic cigarettes pose less of a risk than regular cigarettes, the potential dangers of this 2 billion dollar industry have been proved by multiple reliable sources—enough to indicate that you might want to take up Starbucks instead.