By: Graham Browning, Columnist
Vapor shops and e-cigarette vendors have been popping up all over Greenville lately in downtown, along Poinsett, and in shopping malls. These “better for you” smokers are popular among people of all ages, but especially among college students. While it is a relief to see the smoking rates of “real” cigarettes going down, how safe are these new devices? The FDA has not studied them extensively. This means that their potential risks and the amount of nicotine and other chemicals absorbed during their use are still unknown.
Five ingredients make up vaporizers and e-cigarettes: nicotine, water, glycerol, propylene, glycerol, and flavorings. They form a booming industry, mainly because e-cigarettes and vaporizers are seen as safer than the old-school cigarettes. The number of teens using these products has more than doubled in the last three years. They are battery-powered cartridges filled with nicotine and flavorings. Supporters claim that since these e-cigs do not actually burn, the amount of nicotine they deliver to users systems is not as harmful. E-cigarettes could even be used to help smokers quit, similar to nicotine gum that slowly weans the user off cigarettes. A study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine found that 67% of smokers studied said they smoked less after using e-cigarettes for six months while 33% said they quit smoking completely after smoking e-cigarettes. As a transition away from traditional cigarette smoking, this sounds promising. Opponents, however, assert correctly that, with these devices, nicotine is still being introduced to the body and that nicotine in any amount is still an addictive substance. They worry that e-cigs could be a gateway to nonsmokers to start using real cigarettes and that they will reverse the decades-long progress toward eradicating smoking.
Starter kits typically range from $40 to $100. Each additional cartridge is usually $20 and contains six milligrams of nicotine. While this technically represents more “bang for your buck” compared to regular cigarettes (They only have about two milligrams of nicotine and cost about $7 a pack), e-cigarettes definitely pack more of a bang to users’ health. Without a way to gage how much nicotine users are actually inhaling and no real signal to “stop” because e-cigarettes do not “go out,” smokers will likely smoke more for longer when using an e-cigarette.
Vape manufacturers and sellers are geniuses. Granted, a puff from an e-cigarette is probably less harmful than a lung-burning inhale from a lit cigarette. Just like the “real” cigarette manufacturers, however, e-cigarette dealers are all about the money. They try to pull in customers with claims like reducing smokers’ chances of lung cancer and eliminating environmental waste from cigarette butts. Their liquids come in flavors like strawberry-kiwi, cotton candy, apple pie, and tobacco for those who might miss the traditional taste.
Nevertheless, “less bad” does not equal “good.” The Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, an organization that fights against secondhand smoke, claim that vapor from these electronic devices contains nicotine and low levels of carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, toxins. Many of the elements present in these vapors, like propylene glycerol, acetone, formaldehyde, and propanol, are known to cause respiratory disease.\
In summary, I am torn. I hate the idea of putting chemicals into my body. For that reason, I am completely against starting smoking even with e-cigarettes. On the other hand, if people already smoke tobacco products, can I tell them not to smoke e-cigarettes instead? Probably not. More research needs to be done on the emerging industry. My biggest fear is that this will be just like the traditional cigarette story, that after years of smoking, users will finally realize that their lives are cut short by something they did not think was harmful to their health.