argumentative essay about vaping should be illegal

Vaping – Top 3 Pros and Cons

Vaping is the act of using e-cigarettes , which were first introduced in the United States around 2006. [ 5 ]

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid into an aerosol vapor for inhalation . The liquid used in e-cigarettes is also known as e-liquid or vape juice. The main components are generally flavoring, nicotine , and water, along with vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol , which distribute the flavor and nicotine in the liquid and create the vapor. Popular flavorings include mint , mango , and tobacco . [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 44 ] [ 45 ]

E-cigarettes are also known as “e-cigs,” “e-hookahs,” “mods,” “vape pens,” “vapes,” “vaporizers,” “e-pipes,” and “electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).” Some e-cigarettes are made to resemble regular cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, while others look like pens or USB flash drives.  [ 7 ] [ 42 ] [ 43 ]

The JUUL brand of e-cigarettes, a vaporizer shaped like a USB flash drive , launched in 2015 and captured nearly 75% of the market in 2018, becoming so popular that vaping is often referred to as “juuling.” Juul’s market popularity has since declined to 42% in 2020. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 51 ]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has regulated e-cigarettes as a tobacco product since 2016. On Sep. 11, 2019, President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans to have the FDA end sales of non-tobacco e-cigarette flavors such as mint or menthol in response to concerns over teen vaping. E-cigarette manufacturers were required to request FDA permission to keep flavored products on the market. The FDA had until Sep. 9, 2021 to make a decision. [ 6 ][ 46 ] [ 49 ]

On Sep. 9, 2021, Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock and Director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products Mitch Zeller announced that the FDA had made decisions on 93% of the 6.5 million submitted applications for “deemed” new tobacco products (“‘deemed’ new” means the FDA newly has authority to review the products but the products may already be on the market), including denying 946,000 vaping products “because their applications lacked sufficient evidence that they have a benefit to adult smokers to overcome the public health threat posed by the well-documented, alarming levels of youth use.” [ 55 ] [ 56 ] [ 57 ]

On Oct. 12, 2021, the FDA authorized the Vuse e-cigarette and cartridges, marketed by R.J. Reynolds one of the world’s largest cigarette manufacturers. The move is the first time the FDA authorized any vaping product. According to a statement from the FDA, the organization “determined that the potential benefit to smokers who switch completely or significantly reduce their cigarette use, would outweigh the risk to youth.” [ 58 ]

On June 23, 2022, the FDA ordered Juul to stop selling “all of their products currently marketed in the United States.” The order included removing products currently on the market, including Juul devices (vape pens) and pods (cartridges). The following day, June 24, 2022, a federal appeals court temporarily put the ban on hold while the court reviewed Juul’s appeal. On Sep. 6, 2022, Juul settled a lawsuit brought by almost 36 states and Puerto Rico , in which Juul was accused of marketing to minors. Juul admitted no wrongdoing in settling the lawsuit, but the company will have to pay $438.5 million, stop marketing to youth, stop funding education in schools, and stop misrepresenting the amount of nicotine in the products. [ 61 ] [ 62 ] [ 63 ]

On June, 21, 2024, the FDA approved four types of menthol -flavored vapes made by NJOY. The approval makes the vapes the first flavored e-cigarettes that can be legally sold in the United States. The move comes amid a debate about whether to ban traditional menthol cigarettes at the federal level. [ 64 ]

Nearly 11 million American adults used  e-cigarettes in 2018, more than half of whom were under age 35. One in five high school students used e-cigarettes to vape nicotine in 2018. E-cigarettes were the fourth most popular tobacco products with 4% of retail sales, behind traditional cigarettes (83%), chewing/smokeless tobacco (8%), and cigars (5%) as of Feb. 2019. The global e-cigarette and vape market was worth $15.04 billion in 2020. [ 1 ][ 2 ][ 8 ] [ 50 ]

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 9.7% of current cigarette smokers were also current vapers, though 49.4% of current smokers had vaped at some point. Of former smokers who had quit within the last year, 25.2% were current vapers and 57.3% had tried vaping. Of former smokers who quit one to four years ago, 17.3% were current vapers and and 48.6% had tried vaping. Of former smokers who quit five or more years ago, 1.7% were current vapers and 9% had tried vaping. And of people who have never smoked, 1.5% were current vapers and 6.5% had tried vaping. 18-29 year olds were more likely to say they vaped (17%) than smoked cigarettes, while every older age group was more likely to smoke than vape. [ 52 ] [ 54 ]

Is Vaping with E-Cigarettes Safe?

Pro 1 E-cigarettes help adults quit smoking and lowers youth smoking rates. Cigarette smokers who picked up vaping are 67% more likely to quit smoking. A New England Journal of Medicine study found that e-cigarettes are twice as effective at getting people to quit smoking as traditional nicotine replacements such as the patch and gum. E-cigarettes caused a 50% increase in the rate of people using a product designed to help people quit smoking. [ 14 ]   [ 15 ] [ 48 ]  “Smokers who switch to vaping remove almost all the risks smoking poses to their health,” according to Peter Hajek, professor of clinical psychology at Queen Mary University London. [ 13 ] Vaping has likely contributed to record low levels of youth cigarette smoking, which hit a record-low of just 1.9% of high school students in 2023, down from 19.8% in 2006 (the year e-cigarettes were introduced in the United States). [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 53 ] [ 65 ] Further, a report from Public Health England found no evidence that vaping is an entry into smoking traditional cigarettes for young people. [ 21 ] Read More

Pro 2 Vaping is a safer way to ingest tobacco. A U.K. government report stated that the “best estimates show e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful to your health than normal cigarettes.” [ 16 ] “Combustible cigarettes are the most harmful form of nicotine delivery,” according to Matthew Carpenter, co-director of the Tobacco Research Program at the Hollings Cancer Center. [ 17 ] E-cigarettes are safer for indoor use. Researchers found that the level of nicotine on surfaces in the homes of e-cigarette users was nearly 200 times lower than in the homes of traditional cigarette smokers. Nicotine left behind on surfaces can turn into carcinogens; the amount of nicotine found where vapers live was similar to the trace amounts in the homes of nonsmokers. [ 1 ]   [ 18 ] Traditional cigarettes are known to cause health problems such as lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Worldwide, smoking is the top cause of preventable death, responsible for over seven million deaths each year. [ 10 ] The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine found conclusive evidence that switching to e-cigarettes reduces exposure to toxicants and carcinogens. Burning a traditional cigarette releases noxious gases such as carbon monoxide. Cigarette smoke contains tar, which accounts for most of the carcinogens associated with smoking. E-cigarettes don’t have those gases or tar. [ 11 ] [ 12 ] Read More

Pro 3 E-cigarettes reduce health care costs, create jobs, and help the economy. “Promoting electronic cigarettes to smokers should be a public health priority. Given that the direct medical costs of smoking are estimated to be more than $130 billion per year, along with $150 billion annually in productivity losses from premature deaths, getting more smokers to switch would result in significant cost savings — as well as almost half a million lives saved each year,” argues Sally Satel, a psychiatrist specializing in addiction and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. [ 22 ] Grover Norquist and Paul Blair, both of Americans for Tax Reform, stated, “e-cigarettes and vapor products are the Uber of the product industry. They’re a disruptive and innovative technology… Thousands of good-paying jobs are being created by an industry that is probably going to save hundreds of thousands of lives.” [ 23 ] Plus, the harm reduction from smokers switching to vaping could save $48 billion in annual Medicaid spending. [ 24 ] Juul created more than 1,200 jobs just in 2018. A letter signed by a coalition of anti-regulation groups warned that efforts to limit the e-cigarette industry would destroy tens of thousands of jobs for manufacturers of the devices and the stores that sell them. [ 7 ] [ 25 ] Read More

Con 1 Vaping among kids is skyrocketing: addicting a new generation to nicotine and introducing them to smoking. Marijuana vaping by teens doubled between 2013 and 2020, and the number of minors who stated they’d vaped marijuana in the past 30 days rose from 1.6% to 8.4% in the same time. [ 59 ] Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams declared youth e-cigarette use an “epidemic,” noting a 900% increase in vaping by middle and high school students between 2011 and 2015. [ 2 ] As of 2023, 10% of high school students used e-cigarettes, the most-used tobacco product among the age group, followed by cigarettes (1.9%) and cigars (1.8%). Teens who use e-cigarettes are four times more likely to try regular cigarettes than their peers who never used tobacco, and 21.8% of youth cigarette use may be attributable to initiation through vaping. [ 26 ] [ 53 ] [ 65 ] “The tobacco industry is well aware that flavored tobacco products [such as e-cigarettes] appeal to youth and has taken advantage of this by marketing them in a wide range of fruit and candy flavors,” says Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association. [ 30 ] Read More

Con 2 Vaping causes serious health risks, including depression, lung disease, and stroke. Nicotine use by young people may increase the risk of addiction to other drugs and impair prefrontal brain development, which can lead to ADD and disrupt impulse control. Adult vapers are also more than twice as likely to be diagnosed as depressed than their non-vaping peers. [ 12 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] [ 60 ] The CDC has confirmed six vaping-related deaths and over 450 possible cases of lung illness associated with e-cigarettes. People who use e-cigarettes have a 71% increased risk of stroke and 40% higher risk of heart disease, as compared to nonusers. Studies have shown that e-cigarettes can cause arterial stiffness and cardiovascular harm, and may increase the odds of a heart attack by 42%. [ 31 ] [ 32 ] [ 33 ] [ 47 ] Researchers who found increased risk of blood clots from e-cigarettes wrote, “these devices do emit considerable levels of toxicants, some of which are shared/overlap with tobacco smoking; and thus their harm should not be underestimated.” [ 33 ] Scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that e-cigarettes leak toxic metals, possibly from the heating coils, that are associated with health problems such as kidney disease, respiratory irritation, shortness of breath, and more. [ 34 ] Some ingredients in the liquids used in e-cigarettes change composition when they are heated, leading to inhalation of harmful compounds such as formaldehyde, which is carcinogenic. [ 35 ] Read More

Con 3 E-cigarettes can catch fire and even explode. E-cigarette explosions have led to the loss of body parts (such as an eye, tongue, or tooth), third degree burns, holes in the roof of the mouth, and death. [ 36 ] Researchers at George Mason University found that 2,035 people sought emergency room treatment for burn or explosion injuries from e-cigarettes between 2015 and 2017, and believe there were more injuries that went untreated. They also found more than 40 times the number of injuries reported by the FDA between 2009 and 2015. [ 36 ] [ 37 ] Airlines prohibit e-cigarettes in checked baggage due to the possibility of their lithium batteries catching fire. In Jan. 2019, a passenger’s e-cigarette overheated and caught fire in the airplane cabin. That same month, a Texas man died when debris from an e-cigarette explosion tore his carotid artery. In 2018, a man in Florida was killed by shrapnel from his e-cigarette exploding. [ 38 ] [ 39 ]   [ 40 ] The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) found 195 reports of e-cigarette explosions and fires including 133 acute injuries, of which 29% were severe. The USFA stated, “No other consumer product that is typically used so close to the human body contains the lithium-ion battery that is the root cause of the incidents.” [ 41 ] Read More

Discussion Questions

1. Is vaping safe? Explain your answer.

2. Should vaping restrictions or prohibitions be placed on teens? Why or why not?

3. While this article focuses on nicotine e-cigarettes, consider the safety of marijuana vaping.

Take Action

1. Consider Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association’s take on vaping as a cigarette alternative

2. Learn about e-cigarettes at Encyclopaedia Britannica.

3. Analyze the science of vaping at the American Heart Association .

4. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three ways. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the “other side of the issue” now helps you better argue your position.

5. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives .

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Natalie Leppard Managing Editor [email protected]

© 2023 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved

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How bad is vaping and should it be banned?

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PhD Candidate (Psychiatry) & Research Assistant, University of Newcastle

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Vaping regularly makes headlines, with some campaigning to make e-cigarettes more available to help smokers quit, while others are keen to see vaping products banned, citing dangers, especially for teens.

So just how dangerous is it? We have undertaken an evidence check of vaping research . This included more than 100 sources on tobacco harm reduction, vaping prevalence and health effects, and what other countries are doing in response. Here’s what we found.

How does vaping compare to smoking?

Smoking is harmful. It’s the leading preventable cause of death in Australia. It causes 13% of all deaths , including from lung, mouth, throat and bladder cancer, emphysema, heart attack and stroke, to name just a few. People who smoke regularly and don’t quit lose about ten years of life compared with non-smokers.

Nicotine, a mild stimulant, is the active ingredient in both cigarettes and nicotine vaping products. It’s addictive but isn’t the cause of cancer or the other diseases related to smoking.

Ideally, people wouldn’t be addicted to nicotine, but having a safe supply without the deadly chemicals, for instance by using nicotine patches or gum, is safer than smoking. Making these other sources available is known as “harm reduction”.

Vaping is not risk-free, but several detailed reviews of the evidence plus a consensus of experts have all estimated it’s at least 95% safer to vape nicotine than to smoke tobacco. The risk of cancer from vaping, for example, has been estimated at less than 1%.

These reviews looked at the known dangerous chemicals in cigarettes, and found there were very few and in very small quantities in nicotine vapes. So the argument that we won’t see major health effects for a few more decades is causing more alarm than is necessary.

Is ‘everyone’ vaping these days?

Some are concerned about the use of vaping products by teens, but currently available statistics show very few teens vape regularly. Depending on the study, between 9.6% and 32% of 14-17-year-olds have tried vaping at some point in their lives.

But less than 2% of 14-17-year-olds say they have used vapes in the past year. This number doubled between 2016 and 2019, but is still much lower than the rates of teen smoking (3.2%) and teen alcohol use (32%).

It’s the same pattern we see with drugs other than alcohol: a proportion of people try them but only a very small proportion of those go on to use regularly or for a long time. Nearly 60% of people who try vaping only use once or twice .

Smoking rates in Australia have declined from 24% in 1991 to 11% in 2019 because we have introduced a number of very successful measures such as restricting sales and where people can smoke, putting up prices, introducing plain packaging, and improving education and access to treatment programs.

But it’s getting harder to encourage the remaining smokers to quit with the methods that have worked in the past. Those still smoking tend to be older , more socially disadvantaged , or have mental health problems.

Read more: My teen's vaping. What should I say? 3 expert tips on how to approach 'the talk'

Should we ban vapes?

So we have a bit of a dilemma. Vaping is much safer than smoking, so it would be helpful for adults to have access to it as an alternative to cigarettes. That means we need to make them more available and accessible.

But ideally we don’t want teens who don’t already smoke to start regular vaping. This has led some to call for a “ crackdown ” on vaping.

But we know from a long history of drug prohibition - like alcohol prohibition in the 1920s - that banning or restricting vaping could actually do more harm than good.

Banning drugs doesn’t stop people using them - more than 43% of Australians have tried an illicit drug at least once. And it has very little impact on the availability of drugs.

But prohibition does have a number of unintended consequences, including driving drugs underground and creating a black market or increasing harms as people switch to other drugs, which are often more dangerous.

The black market makes drugs more dangerous because there is no way to control quality. And it makes it easier, not harder, for teens to access them, because there are no restrictions on who can sell or buy them.

Read more: Learning about the health risks of vaping can encourage young vapers to rethink their habit

Are our current laws working?

In 2021, Australia made it illegal to possess and use nicotine vaping products without a prescription. We are the only country in the world to take this path.

The problem is even after more than a year of this law, only 8.6% of people vaping nicotine have a prescription, meaning more than 90% buy them illegally.

Anecdotal reports even suggest an increase in popularity of vaping among teens since these laws were introduced. At best, they are not helping.

It may seem counterintuitive, but the way to reduce the black market is to make quality-controlled vapes and liquids more widely available, but restricted to adults. If people could access vaping products legally they wouldn’t buy them on the black market and the black market would decline.

We also know from many studies on drug education in schools that when kids get accurate, non-sensationalised information about drugs they tend to make healthier decisions. Sensationalised information can have the opposite effect and increase interest in drugs . So better education in schools and for parents and teachers is also needed, so they know how to talk to kids about vaping and what to do if they know someone is vaping.

What have other countries done?

Other countries allow vapes to be legally sold without a prescription, but impose strict quality controls and do not allow the sale of products to people under a minimum age. This is similar to our regulation of cigarettes and alcohol.

The United Kingdom has minimum standards on manufacturing, as well as restrictions on purchase age and where people can vape.

Aotearoa New Zealand introduced a unique plan to reduce smoking rates by imposing a lifetime ban on buying cigarettes. Anyone born after January 1 2009 will never be able to buy cigarettes, so the minimum age you can legally smoke keeps increasing. At the same time, NZ increased access to vaping products under strict regulations on manufacture, purchase and use.

As of late last year, all US states require sellers to have a retail licence, and sales to people under 21 are banned. There are also restrictions on where people can vape.

A recent study modelled the impact of increasing access to nicotine vaping products in Australia. It found it’s likely there would be significant public health benefits by relaxing the current restrictive policies and increasing access to nicotine vaping products for adults.

The question is not whether we should discourage teens from using vaping products or whether we should allow wider accessibility to vaping products for adults as an alternative to smoking. The answer to both those questions is yes.

The key question is how do we do both effectively without one policy jeopardising the outcomes of the other?

If we took a pragmatic harm-reduction approach, as other countries have done, we could use our very successful model of regulation of tobacco products as a template to achieve both outcomes.

Read more: It's safest to avoid e-cigarettes altogether – unless vaping is helping you quit smoking

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Argumentative Essay on Vaping

Is Vaping Really That Bad?

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Works Cited

• Garcia. “Updated: Dallas Has 17 Hospitalizations Linked to Vaping, County Health Official Reports.” Dallas News, Dallas News, 18 Sept. 2019, www.dallasnews.com/news/2019/09/16/updated-Dallas-has-17-hospitalizations-linked-to-vaping-county-health-official-reports/.
• Holland, Jeff, and Ashley Mesch. “Your View on Vaping.” 2 Oct. 2019.
• Logan, Josh, and Ashley Mesch. “Vaping Effects.” 7 Oct. 2019.

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Banning E-Cigarettes Could Do More Harm Than Good

Only a strong public health system can conquer nicotine addiction.

By The Editorial Board

The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values . It is separate from the newsroom.

The nation is facing two distinct vaping-related health crises: surging e-cigarette use among teenagers and a lung-injury outbreak that has sickened more than 2,000 people and killed at least 40 . Both have exposed yawning gaps in the nation’s public health apparatus. But instead of closing those gaps, policymakers have turned to a much more straightforward fix: banning products.

A federal ban on flavored e-cigarettes is reportedly in the offing. Several states have already enacted their own flavor bans. And Massachusetts and several California cities have taken steps to outlaw e-cigarettes altogether.

The impulse to remove e-cigarettes from the market is understandable. The Food and Drug Administration’s hands-off approach to vaping and e-cigarette regulation has backfired badly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and state and local health departments around the country — are struggling to pick up the slack. And after more than a decade, neither federal agency has a clear sense of the overall risks and benefits of these products.

But prohibition is not a good long-term solution, for a number of reasons. Such measures are not guaranteed to prevent teenagers from getting e-cigarettes. And they would almost certainly force people who already use these products , including roughly 11 million adults, to choose between traditional cigarettes (which remain widely available, despite being deadlier than e-cigarettes ) and black-market vaping products.

Because these black market products are a leading suspect in the lung-injury outbreak, product bans are more likely to exacerbate this crisis than to mitigate it.

The better, if more complicated, option would be to build a public health system that’s strong enough to combat all nicotine addiction in the long term. That, in turn, could help drive a cultural shift for e-cigarettes akin to the shift that took place for traditional cigarettes. Policy changes and growing public awareness — not product bans — helped turn what was considered a chic, stress-relieving diet tool into what is now more commonly viewed as a smelly, overpriced cancer stick.

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The Vaping Debate: Should It Be Banned?

The vaping debate has become a hot topic of discussion in recent years, with strong arguments on both sides. On one hand, proponents argue that vaping provides a safer alternative to traditional tobacco products and can help smokers quit. On the other hand, critics raise concerns about the potential health risks associated with vaping, especially for young people.

One of the main reasons why the question of whether vaping should be banned is so controversial is because of the potential health risks involved. While vaping is often marketed as a safer alternative to smoking , there is still much debate about its long-term effects on our health. Some studies have suggested that vaping can cause respiratory issues and lung damage, while others have linked it to nicotine addiction and an increased risk of heart disease.

Another concern is the impact of vaping on youth. The rise in underage use of vaping products has raised alarm bells among health experts and policymakers. Not only are young people being exposed to nicotine at an early age, but there are also fears that vaping could serve as a gateway to traditional tobacco products. The attractive flavors and aggressive marketing tactics used by the vaping industry have been criticized for targeting young users and potentially hooking them on nicotine.

Given these concerns, it is no wonder that the question of whether vaping should be banned is a contentious one. While some argue for personal freedom and the right to make individual choices, others believe that government intervention is necessary to protect public health, especially when it comes to the well-being of young people. Stricter regulations on advertising, age verification, and product labeling have been proposed as alternative approaches to an outright ban.

Table of Contents

Health Concerns

When it comes to the debate surrounding vaping, one of the key concerns is the potential health risks associated with this practice. Vaping involves inhaling and exhaling aerosol, often referred to as vapor, produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device. While it is often marketed as a safer alternative to traditional smoking, there are several health concerns that need to be addressed.

One of the primary health concerns associated with vaping is the impact on respiratory health. Studies have shown that the aerosol produced by e-cigarettes can contain harmful substances such as nicotine, formaldehyde, and acrolein. Inhaling these substances can lead to respiratory issues such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. Additionally, there have been cases of severe lung injuries associated with vaping, with symptoms including chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing.

Nicotine addiction is another significant concern when it comes to vaping. Many e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is a highly addictive substance. Regular use of e-cigarettes can lead to nicotine dependence, making it difficult for individuals to quit or reduce their vaping habits. Nicotine addiction can have detrimental effects on overall health, including an increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and respiratory problems.

Furthermore, the long-term effects of vaping on overall health are still not fully understood. While e-cigarettes may not produce the same harmful toxins found in traditional cigarettes, they still contain potentially harmful chemicals. Prolonged exposure to these chemicals through vaping could have adverse effects on various organs and systems in the body. More research is needed to fully understand the long-term consequences of vaping on health.

Regulatory Measures

Regulatory measures play a crucial role in addressing the concerns surrounding vaping products and ensuring the protection of public health, particularly among young individuals. Various countries and jurisdictions have implemented regulations to control the sale, distribution, and use of vaping devices and e-liquids. These measures aim to address the potential health risks associated with vaping and prevent underage use.

One of the primary objectives of regulatory measures is to restrict access to vaping products for minors. Many countries have implemented age verification requirements, such as age restrictions for purchasing vaping products, to prevent young individuals from accessing these potentially harmful substances. Additionally, some jurisdictions have imposed strict penalties for retailers who sell vaping products to underage individuals, reinforcing the importance of compliance with these regulations.

In addition to age restrictions, regulations also focus on product safety and quality control. Vaping devices and e-liquids are subject to testing and certification processes to ensure that they meet specific safety standards. This includes examining the ingredients used in e-liquids and setting limits on the concentration of potentially harmful substances. By implementing these measures, regulators aim to minimize the risks associated with vaping and protect the health of users.

Furthermore, advertising and marketing regulations are also crucial in preventing the appeal of vaping to young individuals. Many countries have banned or restricted the promotion of vaping products, particularly those that target young people through attractive flavors and aggressive marketing tactics. These regulations aim to minimize the influence of advertising on the decision-making process of young individuals and discourage them from engaging in vaping.

While regulatory measures are in place, their effectiveness in addressing the concerns surrounding vaping is still a subject of debate. Some argue that these measures are not stringent enough and call for stricter regulations to further protect public health and prevent underage use. Others believe that excessive regulation may hinder harm reduction efforts and limit the availability of safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes.

In conclusion, regulatory measures on vaping products are essential in safeguarding public health and preventing underage use. These measures focus on age restrictions, product safety, and advertising regulations to address the potential risks associated with vaping. However, ongoing evaluation and potential adjustments to these regulations are necessary to ensure their effectiveness in the ever-evolving landscape of vaping.

Evidence-Based Research

Evidence-based research plays a crucial role in understanding the potential health risks associated with vaping and informing the need for stricter regulations. Through the analysis of scientific studies and data, researchers have been able to shed light on the extent of these risks and their impact on public health.

One of the main concerns highlighted by evidence-based research is the potential respiratory issues that can arise from vaping. Studies have shown that the inhalation of e-cigarette aerosols can lead to lung inflammation and damage. Additionally, the chemicals present in e-liquids, such as formaldehyde and acrolein, have been linked to respiratory symptoms and decreased lung function.

Nicotine addiction is another significant health risk associated with vaping. Research has shown that e-cigarettes deliver nicotine in a highly efficient manner, leading to increased addiction potential. This is particularly concerning for young people who may start vaping without fully understanding the addictive nature of nicotine, potentially leading to long-term dependence and a higher likelihood of transitioning to traditional tobacco products.

Furthermore, evidence-based research has raised concerns about the long-term effects of vaping on overall health. While e-cigarettes are often marketed as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, studies have indicated that they still pose health risks. Some research suggests that vaping may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and respiratory conditions, although further studies are needed to fully understand these associations.

These findings underscore the need for stricter regulations on vaping products. By relying on evidence-based research, policymakers can make informed decisions to protect public health and mitigate the potential risks associated with vaping. Implementing measures such as stricter age verification, product labeling requirements, and limitations on advertising can help reduce the appeal and accessibility of vaping, particularly among young people.

Impact on Youth

The impact of vaping on youth is a topic of growing concern. With the rise in popularity of e-cigarettes, there has been a corresponding increase in underage use. This trend is particularly alarming as it exposes young individuals to the potential dangers of nicotine addiction and other health risks associated with vaping.

One of the main concerns is the potential gateway effect of vaping on traditional tobacco products. Studies have shown that young people who start vaping are more likely to transition to smoking cigarettes. This is a troubling trend, as tobacco use is known to have severe health consequences and is a leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide.

The appeal of vaping among adolescents can be attributed to various factors. The availability of appealing flavors, such as fruit and candy flavors, makes vaping more enticing to young users. Additionally, the marketing tactics employed by e-cigarette companies, including the use of social media influencers and celebrity endorsements, contribute to the popularity of vaping among youth.

To address the impact of vaping on youth, stricter regulations on advertising and marketing practices are needed. Limiting the availability of flavored e-cigarettes and implementing age verification measures can also help reduce underage use. Furthermore, comprehensive education campaigns are essential to inform young people about the potential risks and consequences of vaping.

It is crucial to protect the health and well-being of our youth by addressing the influence of vaping on their lives. By implementing effective measures and raising awareness, we can work towards preventing the harmful effects of vaping and promoting a healthier future for our younger generations.

Marketing and Advertising

The marketing and advertising strategies employed by the vaping industry have come under scrutiny due to their potential impact on young users. Aggressive marketing tactics, such as flashy advertisements and sponsorships at events popular with youth, have been successful in capturing the attention of adolescents. Additionally, the availability of a wide range of appealing flavors, including fruity and dessert-inspired options, has further contributed to the popularity of vaping among young people.

These marketing strategies have raised concerns about the potential for increased initiation and addiction among youth. Research suggests that young people are particularly susceptible to the influence of marketing and advertising, and the enticing flavors and sleek designs of vaping devices make them an attractive choice for experimentation. As a result, there is a growing need for stricter advertising regulations to limit the exposure of young individuals to these persuasive tactics.

In order to protect the health and well-being of young people, it is crucial to consider implementing regulations that restrict the marketing and advertising of vaping products. This could include limitations on the promotion of flavors that are likely to appeal to youth, as well as restrictions on advertising in locations frequented by young individuals, such as near schools and playgrounds. By addressing the role of marketing and advertising in attracting young users, stricter regulations can help mitigate the potential harms associated with vaping among this vulnerable population.

Public Opinion

Public opinion on vaping is divided, with varying perspectives on whether it should be banned or allowed to continue. One argument in favor of vaping is based on the principle of personal freedom. Advocates believe that adults should have the right to make their own choices regarding their health and lifestyle , including the use of vaping products. They argue that banning vaping would infringe upon individual liberties and create a slippery slope towards further government intervention in personal choices.

On the other hand, opponents of vaping emphasize the potential harm reduction aspect. They argue that vaping can serve as a less harmful alternative to traditional tobacco products, potentially helping smokers quit or reduce their tobacco consumption. Proponents of harm reduction strategies believe that banning vaping would eliminate a potentially valuable tool in the fight against smoking-related diseases.

Additionally, concerns about the impact of vaping on public health play a significant role in the debate. Those in favor of stricter regulations and even a ban on vaping argue that the potential health risks associated with vaping, such as respiratory issues and nicotine addiction, outweigh any perceived benefits. They believe that government intervention is necessary to protect the population, particularly young people, from the potential dangers of vaping.

Overall, public opinion on vaping is complex and multifaceted, with arguments centered around personal freedom, harm reduction, and the role of government intervention in public health. The ongoing debate highlights the need for further research and evidence-based policies to strike a balance between individual liberties and public health concerns.

Alternative Approaches

When it comes to the vaping debate, there are alternative approaches that can be explored instead of an outright ban. These strategies aim to address the concerns surrounding vaping while still allowing adults to make informed choices. One such approach is through education campaigns.

Education campaigns can play a crucial role in raising awareness about the potential risks of vaping and providing accurate information to the public. By educating individuals about the potential health effects and addictive nature of vaping, it empowers them to make informed decisions about their own health.

In addition to education campaigns, implementing product labeling requirements can also be an effective alternative approach. Clear and comprehensive labeling can provide users with important information about the ingredients, nicotine content, and potential health risks associated with vaping products. This allows consumers to make informed choices and understand the potential consequences of their actions.

Furthermore, stricter age verification measures can be put in place to prevent underage access to vaping products. This can include requiring identification checks upon purchase, implementing stricter penalties for retailers who sell to minors, and conducting regular compliance checks. By ensuring that only adults have access to vaping products, it helps to mitigate the potential impact on youth.

By exploring alternative approaches such as education campaigns, product labeling requirements, and stricter age verification measures, it is possible to address the concerns surrounding vaping without resorting to a complete ban. These strategies aim to strike a balance between personal freedom and public health, allowing individuals to make informed choices while still protecting vulnerable populations.

Harm Reduction Strategies

Harm reduction strategies play a crucial role in addressing the vaping debate. These approaches aim to provide safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes, reducing the potential harm associated with smoking. One such strategy is the use of nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs), which deliver nicotine to the body without the harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke.

NRTs come in various forms, including patches, gum, inhalers, and nasal sprays. They work by gradually reducing nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms, helping individuals quit smoking or transition to a less harmful alternative like vaping. By offering a controlled and regulated nicotine intake, NRTs can help mitigate the health risks associated with smoking.

Another harm reduction approach is the use of FDA-approved cessation aids. These medications, such as varenicline and bupropion, are specifically designed to help individuals quit smoking. They work by reducing nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms, making it easier for people to quit and stay smoke-free. These medications have been shown to significantly increase the chances of successful quitting.

In addition to NRTs and FDA-approved cessation aids, harm reduction strategies also include education campaigns and stricter age verification measures. Education campaigns can raise awareness about the risks of smoking and vaping, providing individuals with accurate information to make informed decisions about their health. Stricter age verification measures can help prevent underage individuals from accessing vaping products, reducing the likelihood of initiation and addiction.

Overall, harm reduction strategies focus on providing individuals with safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes. By offering options like nicotine replacement therapies and FDA-approved cessation aids, these approaches aim to reduce the harm associated with smoking and vaping, ultimately improving public health outcomes.

International Perspectives

When it comes to the vaping debate, different countries have taken varying approaches to address the issue. Some countries have implemented bans on vaping products, while others have opted for regulations and public health campaigns. These approaches aim to protect public health and address concerns surrounding the use of e-cigarettes.

In countries like India and Brazil, vaping has been completely banned, with the sale, import, and distribution of e-cigarettes being prohibited. These bans are often driven by concerns over the potential health risks associated with vaping and the impact on youth. By implementing a complete ban, these countries aim to prevent the use of e-cigarettes altogether.

On the other hand, countries like the United States and Canada have opted for a more regulatory approach. They have implemented measures such as age restrictions, product labeling requirements, and restrictions on advertising and marketing. These regulations aim to ensure that vaping products are not easily accessible to underage individuals and that consumers are aware of the potential risks.

Additionally, some countries have focused on public health campaigns to educate the public about the potential dangers of vaping. These campaigns aim to raise awareness and provide accurate information about the risks associated with e-cigarette use. By educating the public, these countries hope to discourage the use of vaping products and promote healthier alternatives.

It is important to evaluate the outcomes of these different approaches to determine their effectiveness in addressing the vaping debate. While bans may seem like a drastic measure, they aim to completely eliminate the use of e-cigarettes. On the other hand, regulations and public health campaigns seek to strike a balance between personal freedom and public health concerns.

By examining the international perspectives on vaping, we can gain insights into the various strategies employed by different countries and their impact on public health. This information can help inform future decisions regarding the regulation of vaping products and the best approach to address the potential risks associated with their use.

Frequently Asked Questions

Vaping has been associated with various health risks, including respiratory issues and nicotine addiction. While it is considered less harmful than traditional cigarettes, it is not without its own dangers. Long-term effects on overall health are still being studied.

Yes, there are regulations in place to protect public health and prevent underage use. These regulations include age restrictions for purchase, product labeling requirements, and restrictions on marketing and advertising tactics.

Scientific studies have shown that vaping can have negative health effects, particularly on the respiratory system. While more research is needed, the evidence suggests that stricter regulations are necessary to address these risks.

Yes, vaping has become increasingly popular among adolescents, leading to concerns about its impact on youth. There is evidence to suggest that vaping can serve as a gateway to traditional tobacco products and contribute to nicotine addiction among young people.

Aggressive marketing tactics and appealing flavors have been found to attract young users to vaping. Stricter regulations on advertising are necessary to prevent the targeting of underage individuals and reduce the appeal of these products.

There are varying opinions on vaping, with some arguing for personal freedom and harm reduction, while others emphasize the role of government intervention in protecting public health. The debate involves balancing individual rights with the potential risks to society.

Yes, instead of an outright ban, alternative strategies can be explored. These include educational campaigns to raise awareness about the risks of vaping, stricter product labeling requirements, and improved age verification measures to prevent underage use.

Harm reduction strategies focus on providing safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes. This includes promoting the use of nicotine replacement therapies and FDA-approved cessation aids to help individuals quit smoking or transition to less harmful options.

Various countries have taken different approaches to vaping, ranging from complete bans to implementing regulations and public health campaigns. Evaluating the outcomes of these approaches can provide valuable insights for shaping policies in other regions.

HealthCentreNZ

One response to “The Vaping Debate: Should It Be Banned?”

this is true vaping is very bad and you should watch skibidi toilet on rizzmas trust

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The Actual Harms of Vaping

In a moment of national panic, what is the safest way forward?

When a deadly virus swept the U.S. in 2009, killing thousands of people, panic felt especially necessary. A variant of the influenza that spreads every year, the “swine flu” made headlines as new reports of deaths rolled in. Graphic, tragic tales of lives lost spread fear.

Many Americans still remember that winter as particularly treacherous. But swine flu ultimately did no more damage in the country than any typical flu virus. In fact, the year that swine flu struck was one of the lightest flu seasons in recent history. Influenza killed about 12,500 Americans that year. The average annual death toll over the past decade has been closer to 50,000 .

Social scientists have since explained the panic as a matter of “ risk acceptability .” What made that flu stand out in people’s minds? In part, who it killed. Unlike in most years, swine flu hospitalized many young adults . Cases involved people who are not supposed to die of the flu—not just the grandparent with emphysema, but the high-school athlete. Despite any ongoing plague of death and destruction, this sort of new, unanticipated danger invariably captures national attention.

Anxiety is a powerful motivator, but by definition it exists around risks that are not deemed acceptable. Anxiety can mobilize people to swift and decisive action, of the sort no longer considered for more dangerous threats that society does accept. Smoking tobacco, for instance, kills some 480,000 Americans every year. But it does so gradually with cancers and heart disease that strike after decades of use. The annual death toll is now so expected that it does not constitute news. Similarly accepted are the fatal effects of inhaling chemicals in air pollution, which kills about 7 million people around the world annually.

Read: Contesting the science of smoking

At the moment, the leading public-health issue in the news is vaping. Push alerts mark incremental tallies in people hospitalized with serious respiratory illnesses related to vaping. So far this year the number is 805—with a median age of 23—according to a widely discussed report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week. The week prior, 530 hospitalizations had been reported. The number of deaths related to vaping has grown to 12.

In September, President Donald Trump announced a commitment to ending the vaping scourge: “We can’t allow people to get sick, and we can’t have our youth be so affected.” In addition to the youth of the victims, uncertainty about exactly what’s causing this spike in sickness has fueled an emotional public response. A mix of political momentum and genuine will to protect kids has led to calls for bans and absolute avoidance of vapes. Massachusetts temporarily banned the sale of all vaping products. Walmart announced it would stop selling all vaping products. California allocated $20 million for a “vaping-awareness campaign.”

There appears to be a unanimous consensus that something should be done to better understand and prevent this vaping-related harm. The message from many in the public-health community simply has been to avoid vaping. Last week the CDC told Americans as much. But as bans are actually being implemented, some experts are realizing the potentially dangerous effects of misplacing collective anxiety.

“What we’ve seen in the past several months is unique,” says Brian King, the CDC’s deputy director for research translation on smoking and health. After the recent, jarring uptick in serious cases of vaping-related lung illness, he has been trying to discern the exact extent of the harm. He believes that the agency is close to having a full accounting. “It’s possible there is an influence of stories in the media—that people may be more likely to report or to suspect vaping was the cause of lung disease,” King says. “Even so, the rates are markedly higher than in past years, so it’s likely something new is going on.”

Read: Vaping’s plausible deniability is going up in smoke

Abigail Friedman, who studies tobacco use at the Yale School of Public Health, points out that the majority of the most popular vaping products have been on the market for at least a few years. The question is not whether vaping itself is safe or unsafe, she emphasizes, but what elements of the practice are causing these acute diseases: “An e-cigarette is fundamentally a device, not a substance. One thing that I think is really confusing people is that vaping just means using an e-cigarette. It doesn’t tell you what people put in it. You could put water in an e-cigarette, right?”

Vaping water should be a harmless, if curious, thing to do. Adding nicotine to that vapor, on the other hand, noticeably affects the cardiovascular system and brain. The addictive properties of nicotine can alter neural functioning permanently, especially in younger people—that’s why every medical institution advises against vaping. But nicotine alone should not acutely cause the sort of severe inflammatory lung disease that is being seen.

Identifying the actual compounds that are causing people’s lungs to shut down is the real challenge for researchers and doctors. For those unacquainted with vaping, this means the “juice” that’s in the cartridges. These can be filled with anything at all, technically, if not legally. Some people concoct their own juice, or buy it by the gallon and refill old cartridges. Some cartridges are sold legally, and others on the black market. “People are modifying cartridges to accommodate other substances,” King says.

The lung diseases are especially common in people who have vaped THC-containing products, both manufactured and modified. (THC is the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis.) But he says the CDC has not ruled out harms from nicotine-only products. In all cases, some element (or elements) in the liquid is getting into people’s lungs and causing a severe inflammatory reaction. Some have been traced to a vitamin E compound. Other cases have involved vegetable glycerin, a common ingredient in skin-care products. Friedman notes that just because an ingredient is “natural” or is safe to smear on one’s face, or to eat, does not make it safe to inhale.

To broadly condemn vaping for these illnesses may be akin to blaming injections instead of heroin, or coffee cups instead of arsenic-laden coffee. Damage to the lungs is technically a result of a person’s immune system attempting to eradicate the foreign invader. Identifying which compound triggered any given reaction involves the variability of individual immune systems, meaning some people have severe illnesses after inhaling something that others tolerated—like gluten in the bowels of a person with celiac disease. This could make illnesses harder to trace than if the problem were due to a single, universally poisonous contaminant (like bootleggers cutting their THC with cyanide). While regulatory agencies have a general sense of what compounds are safe to eat and drink, there is no such historic repository of wisdom or data on what compounds are safe to vape.

Amid so much uncertainty and harm coming from the mushrooming market for novel, unregulated products, some researchers raise the concern that banning legal vapes would make the problem worse, not better. Some nicotine-addicted people would be driven to the black market. Others could switch from vaping to smoking cigarettes. In a 2015 study , Friedman and colleagues found that vaping bans increased rates of teenage smoking. “Electronic and conventional cigarettes are economic substitutes,” Friedman says. “If the price of one product goes up, demand for a substitute is expected to increase.”

Friedman uses Diet Coke drinkers as an analogy: If Diet Coke were banned, people would likely switch to Coke or Coke Zero or Diet Pepsi, not water. This replacement principle would be especially true for nicotine users, because the substance is even more addictive than Diet Coke.

Sunny Shin, who studies tobacco use at Virginia Commonwealth University, says his colleagues are seeing cases of young people switching to cigarettes because they are scared of vaping, a sort of warped perception of overall harms. “Some e-cigarette companies targeted young people [with marketing], and people in low-income communities, and many in those targeted groups started to think they should avoid smoking because it causes cancer, but they thought vaping was harmless,” Shin says. Now that trend could be reversing, and people who got addicted to nicotine because of marketing by vaping companies stand to suffer yet more if they transition to smoking or vaping homemade products.

For years, vaping products were rolled out with essentially no oversight. Not until 2016 did vaping devices come under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration. While the big vaping companies face distinct controversies over targeted marketing , flavored products , and drawing countless people into long-term nicotine addiction, mainstream products might be the least likely to be the source of recent spikes in disease.

Read: Vaping falls in Trump’s crosshairs

The most radical solution could also be the most responsible and careful. If you ban it, you can’t regulate it. At least metaphorically speaking, the juice cannot be put back into the cartridge.

“This is a good moment to establish the regulatory structure for these vaping products that should have been in place since the beginning,” Shin says. He emphasizes that ideally no one would be using nicotine regularly, and that the emotional impulsivity that underlies tobacco use is an effective target if a society truly wants to stop people from abusing substances. But short of that sort of meaningful preventive approach, substances can at least be made as safe as possible.

When nicotine is delivered to people’s brains by way of regulated and thoroughly tested products, at least the risks become more predictable. As in the food system, contaminated or especially dangerous products can be traced, and individual products recalled or manufacturing practices banned. This would mean funding the FDA and state health departments to test and ensure the purity and safety of products. It could also involve an industry-driven approach. “You want a device that’s tamper-proof,” Friedman says. “You want a device where people can’t inject vanilla extract, or whatever they have at home to make a flavor, because they can’t buy flavored products.”

As the nebulous long-term health consequences of vaping reveal themselves, it will remain the goal of public health to minimize nicotine use altogether. Doing this will involve the common public-health approach known as harm reduction : working to make a dangerous practice as safe as possible. Drawing on the failures of approaches like abstinence-only sex education and prohibition of alcohol , harm reduction is considered whenever total elimination from society does not seem to be an option. People around the world throughout history have ingested tobacco, and the capitalist American spirit of autonomy has never had the political will to ban it altogether. If the past is any indication, the last humans on Earth will be ingesting tobacco and alcohol as the waters rise around their ankles in their survival bunkers.

In the meantime, the impulse to discontinue all sales and outright ban all vaping products may be a case of applying one big hammer to a job that requires a belt full of small screwdrivers. Meanwhile, in the mission to prevent fatal lung disease, that big hammer could be squarely aimed at cigarettes and air pollution.

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Will vaping bans do more harm than good? Some public health experts say yes.

As policymakers nationwide struggle to control a skyrocketing youth vaping epidemic and rising cases of severe vaping-related lung illnesses, some doctors say reactionary bans on nicotine e-cigarettes are a mistake.

In an editorial published Thursday in the journal Science , the group writes that such "prohibitionist measures" may thwart earnest efforts of adult smokers trying to quit regular cigarettes by turning to electronic cigarettes. The group includes public health experts from major institutions, including Columbia University, Emory University, New York University and Ohio State University.

The article goes against what most public health officials and addiction experts in the United States have been saying for months, which is that there is no safe form of vaping, and that the only substance that people should inhale is clean air.

Major medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association , the American Lung Association and the American Medical Association, have stressed that anyone who vapes should stop.

The long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are unknown, and the group is careful to point out that vaping does not come without risk.

But for adult smokers hooked on nicotine, vaping "is a harm-reduction initiative, not a harm-elimination initiative," Amy Fairchild, dean of the Ohio State University College of Public Health and one of the editorial's authors, told NBC News.

"Restricting access and appeal among less harmful vaping products out of an abundance of caution while leaving deadly combustible products on the market does not protect public health," the authors wrote. "It threatens to derail a trend that could hasten the demise of cigarettes, poised to take a billion lives this century."

Indeed, cigarette smoking is responsible for nearly a half million deaths each year in the U.S. alone. And 16 million Americans are living with tobacco-related illnesses, such as lung and other cancers, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Fairchild and her co-authors say there should be a distinction between e-cigarettes used as smoking cessation tools and the two ongoing public health crises: nonsmoking teenagers taking up vaping, and the spate of serious lung illnesses linked to vaping called EVALI.

As of Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 2,409 EVALI cases nationwide. Fifty-two people have died, and more deaths are under investigation. A majority of patients reported using products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, though some say they only vaped flavored e-liquids or nicotine products before falling ill.

Recent case reports have linked vapes to a variety of health problems, including hard-metal lung disease and chemical burns in lung tissue.

Investigators have been unable to pinpoint any single cause of the illnesses, though vitamin E acetate has been implicated. Until more is known, some states have enacted or proposed at least temporary bans on flavored vape products. The Trump administration is also reportedly considering a form of a federal ban.

Health Teen's lungs scarred so badly from vaping he needed double transplant

"Alarm about youth experimentation with vaping nicotine is appropriate. Alarm about EVALI and EVALI-related deaths is appropriate, and we need to treat that like we would any outbreak and pour a lot of resources into it," Fairchild said. But, she added, regulation and safety standards for e-cigarettes are critical to maintain cessation tools for adult smokers.

Jeremiah Johnson, 43, of Glasgow, Missouri, credits e-cigarettes with helping him overcome an 18-year addiction to tobacco. He tried Chantix, a medication used to help people stop smoking, but the effect was temporary.

He was attracted to e-cigarettes "thinking it was more healthy" and because he didn't like smelling like smoke. He's been off combustible tobacco products for three years.

Johnson admitted he's developed some breathing difficulties since switching to vaping.

"I get short of breath quicker. Just stupid stuff like bending over tying your shoes," he said. "I shouldn't be breathing hard from doing just that."

But Johnson said he's unable to blame his shortness of breath on vaping; pointing out he's also gained a few pounds in recent years.

Still, Johnson said vaping is not a long-term solution. Now that he's quit regular cigarettes, he's motivated to quit e-cigarettes.

"I want to see my grandchildren at some point in the future and just be smart about it," he told NBC News.

Meanwhile, the CDC recommends anyone using vaping products as an alternative to regular cigarettes to carefully monitor themselves for vaping-related illness symptoms, including fatigue, shortness of breath, fever, coughing, vomiting and diarrhea.

Follow NBC HEALTH on Twitter & Facebook .

Erika Edwards is a health and medical news writer and reporter for NBC News and "TODAY."

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Health Beat: Vaping Should Be Banned Until Proven Safe

Vaping is the latest craze, but we are only now finding out about the dangers for our youth. Some 26% of Hawaii’s high school students have used a vaping device, twice the national average.

Many users don’t consider themselves smokers, and feel vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes. In fact, e-cigarettes were supposed to be a safer alternative, and offer a way to help people stop smoking while still handling their nicotine cravings.

However, a new generation has chosen these electronic devices before ever picking up a regular cigarette. Flavored “juice” has attracted an even younger crowd.

Now more than 1,200 people have been injured and almost 30 have died, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Mayo Clinic , based on findings from lung biopsies, described the damage as similar to toxic chemical exposures or chemical burns.

How could something that dangerous pass muster with the Food and Drug Administration and continue to be sold in stores?

Hawaii Department of Health Director Bruce Anderson has called for everyone to stop vaping until more is known about the dangers. Places like San Francisco have led the charge, banning vaping products from stores.

Given the clearly identified harm from some yet-to-be-identified substance in the vaping liquids, the question remains – should e-cigarettes be allowed at all?

Sales should stop now until more data is available.

Before 2016, there was no regulation of the sale of electronic cigarettes. In August of that year, the FDA gave its Center for Tobacco Products regulatory authority over all electronic nicotine delivery devices. Applications from the companies selling the devices were supposed to be completed by 2018, but the deadline was extended to 2022. However, given the recent revelations, this has been accelerated to May.

What possible argument would justify the use of a device that is clearly proven to cause harm, even if the particular ingredient injuring users’ lungs has not yet been identified?

It should not come as a surprise that one of the biggest manufacturers, Juul, is 35% owned by Altria, the nation’s leading tobacco company, formerly known as Philip Morris. Even if the rates of traditional cigarette use goes down, the company will still make money from those transitioning to electronic cigarettes.

The company’s website describes the product as “a satisfying alternative to cigarettes” and says its mission is “to improve the lives of the world’s one billion adult smokers by eliminating cigarettes”.

Alternatives do exist for habitual smokers – nicotine replacement in the form of gum, patches, sprays, etc. These prescription and over-the-counter products have been approved by the FDA and are available to help those who want to quit. They’re not without potential side effects but the risks are known. Anyone can review them and make an informed decision.

However, no safety studies have been done on vaping devices, and although the FDA has demanded them, too many people have died or been injured to wait until May to take action.

Sales should stop now until more data is available. The FDA has enough information from the CDC and scientists to make a preliminary decision to stop allowing the sale of these products.

If there is an ingredient that causes damage, the companies will be highly motivated to help find it, so that their sales can continue. Rather than waiting for more deaths, and for physicians to do their research for them, they could conduct their own studies. They should be required to prove their product is safe, rather than claim it’s safer than the alternative, traditional cigarettes.

The longer we wait for action, the greater the risk of injuries and possible deaths, while the companies continue to make millions putting the public in jeopardy.

It took decades before the tobacco industry acknowledged its product causes harm. Now, it’s widely accepted that smoking causes lung cancer, especially with long-term use.

How long will it take for the vaping industry to do the same?

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About the Author

Kathleen Kozak, M.D., is an internal medicine physician at Straub Clinic and Hospital. She is also a part-time medical director for UHA Health Insurance and is the host of “The Body Show” on  Hawaii Public Radio .

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A Vapid Solution: Why banning disposable e-cigarettes would be a failure of law-enforcement

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• A ban on disposable vaping products would take away a safer choice from millions of adult smokers.
• It is already illegal to sell vaping products to under-18s.
• The scale of youth vaping is often overstated. Twice as many 11–15-year-olds drink alcohol regularly than vape regularly.
• Environmental concerns are negligible since only tiny amounts of rare resources are used and vapes are easily recyclable.
• The sensible response to concerns about youth vaping and the environment is to enforce existing restrictions and to encourage responsible recycling, not take away the freedom of adults to choose.

Introduction

The benefits of vaping, underage vaping, environmental concerns, the risks of banning disposable e-cigarettes.

• Higher smoking rates due to lower uptake of vaping by current smokers. Disposable vapes are simpler and more convenient to use than refillable devices. They are pre-filled with e-liquid and are precharged. They are draw-activated and automatically switch off when they are not in use. Smokers who use them for the first time do not have to learn anything about wattage, nicotine fluid strength or battery power. Although they are more expensive in the long run, they require a smaller financial outlay initially (around £5 compared to around £40 for a refillable). All of this makes them a more viable proposition than refillable e-cigarettes for smokers who are thinking of trying vaping for the first time, particularly those who are elderly or on low incomes.
• Higher smoking rates due to ex-smokers returning to smoking. As noted above, over a million adult vapers currently use disposable vapes, presumably because they find them preferable to refillable e-cigarettes. Without the option to vape their favoured products, many must be expected to return to smoking.
• An increase in underage smoking . Fears of a ‘gateway effect’ have so far proved unfounded but by banning e-cigarettes that are currently used by under-18s, the government could inadvertently engineer a ‘gateway’ from vaping to smoking.
• Growth of the black market. E-cigarettes are already being sold illegally to children. The e-cigarettes being sold are often themselves illegal. An analysis of vapes confiscated in a school in Kidderminster in May 2023 found that most of the products were illegal and unregulated, with many of them containing high levels of lead, nickel and chromium. 17 As Action on Smoking and Health says: ‘Children already find it easy to get hold of illegal vapes, as those selling them have no qualms selling to children, making them all illegal won’t help. The sale of illegal disposable vapes, already large and growing, will be turbo-charged if they are banned.’ 18 This is supported by evidence from Australia where e-cigarettes containing nicotine have always been banned and there is a major problem with children buying unregulated e-cigarettes on the black market. 19

About the authors

• ‘Crackdown on illegal sales of vapes’,  Gov.uk, 9 April 2023 ( https://tinyurl.com/mrthkfk3 )
• ‘Sunak voices concern over vape advertising “targeted at kids”’,  Evening Standard, 25 May 2023 ( https://tinyurl.com/3f3z9sv9 )
• ‘What are the health risks of smoking?’, NHS.uk, 16 September 2022 ( https://tinyurl.com/3fzpzy4f )
• ‘E-cigarettes: an evidence update’, Gov.uk, 19 August 2015   ( https://tinyurl.com/3ccbppes )
• ‘Nicotine without smoke: Tobacco harm reduction’, Royal College of Physicians ,  28 April 2016 ( https://tinyurl.com/43ecspwt )
• ‘Comparing the cancer potencies of emissions from vapourised nicotine products  including e-cigarettes with those of tobacco smoke’, BMJ , 4 August 2017 (https://tinyurl.com/3entmhvk)
• ‘Nicotine vaping in England: 2022 evidence update main findings’, Gov.uk, September 2022 (https://tinyurl.com/v8y7ed6c)
• ‘Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation’, Cochrane Library, 17 November 2022 ( https://tinyurl.com/2ewkfnhh )
• ‘Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2021’, NHS.uk , September 2022 ( https://tinyurl.com/2j8bd6mp )
• ‘Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain’,   Ash ,   June 2023 ( https://tinyurl.com/mr24c5sp )
• ‘Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2021: Data tables’, NHS.uk, 2 September 2022 ( https://tinyurl.com/4kvyrz53 )
• ‘Global EV outlook 2022’, International Energy Agency , May 2022 ( https://tinyurl.com/3avhnmkw )
• ‘Recycling vapes’, Recycle Your Electricals ( https://tinyurl.com/mr3w3d2s )
• ‘Policy options to tackle the issue of disposable (single-use) vapes’, Ash,  August 2023 (https://tinyurl.com/2p9f5a5h)
• ‘ASH response to “Councils call for ban of disposable vapes”’, Ash , 15 July 2023 ( https://tinyurl.com/99wepmxt )
• ‘Vaping: High lead and nickel found in illegal vapes’, BBC , 23 May 2023 ( https://tinyurl.com/3k48w65n )
•  ‘ASH response to “Councils call for ban of disposable vapes”’, Ash , 15 July 2023 ( https://tinyurl.com/99wepmxt )
• ‘New research finds Aussie teens find illegal vapes easy to access’, Cancer Council , September 2022 (https://tinyurl.com/3sdp2rdk)

1 thought on “A Vapid Solution: Why banning disposable e-cigarettes would be a failure of law-enforcement”

Disposable products are garbage, literally. They are future landfill. We need to move away from all disposable products. Reusable vape products create less garbage, less pollution, they’re less likely to be obtained and used by teens, and they save the user a significant amount of money over the long term. There is no good reason to opposed the banning of disposable vapes.

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Here Are All The Valid Health Reasons Why So Many Countries Are Banning Vapes

The White House recently announced plans to ban flavoured e-cigarettes – except for tobacco-flavoured products – because of a rise in the number of middle and high school students using these products.

A few days later, India's cabinet approved an emergency order banning the production, import and sale of e-cigarettes.

To date, over 20 countries , mostly in South America, the Middle East and South-East Asia, have banned the sale of e-cigarette products. Some countries have also banned possession of these products.

Thailand has the strictest laws, while countries such as Australia, Canada and Norway have introduced many restrictions.

. @SecAzar on President @realDonaldTrump 's e-cigarette announcement: pic.twitter.com/HYp8l4KCUW — The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) September 11, 2019

Research suggests that e-cigarettes may help smokers quit regular cigarettes benefiting their long-term health. But young people who have never smoked traditional cigarettes are taking up e-cigarettes , which are available in over 1,500 flavours, including bubble gum and candy floss.

In a survey of US youths aged 12-17 , 81 percent of e-cigarette users reported that the first product they ever used was flavoured and that they use e-cigarettes because "they come in flavors I like".

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over 3.6 million children in the US use e-cigarettes , with a jump of 78 percent (from 11.7 percent to 20.8 percent) of US high school students reporting e-cigarette use from 2017 to 2018.

And in the UK , 1.6 percent of those aged 11-18 use e-cigarettes more than once a week, compared with 0.5 percent in 2015.

Because of the highly addictive nature of nicotine, there is a risk that young e-cigarette users might switch to using traditional cigarettes. Indeed, some healthcare professionals refer to e-cigarettes as a "gateway drug".

Harmful enzymes

E-cigarettes create an aerosol by heating a complex solution of chemicals, comprising oils, flavouring and nicotine. The fine particles released in the vapour are similar in size and concentration to tobacco smoke and so can reach deep into the lungs .

Several of these chemicals are toxic to cells , but what makes research into their safety difficult is that each product is very different with the final composition of chemicals being determined by the temperature at which the vaping device heats them.

Researchers have found that vaping irritates and inflames the airways, leading to the production of a greater amount of mucus and an increase in tissue-degrading enzymes called proteases. High levels of proteases can destroy sensitive lung tissue and reduce the ability of our lungs to function.

The resulting damage to the lungs is irreversible and over time can lead to severe lung conditions, including emphysema which is commonly found in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ). For those who already have a chronic lung disease, such as COPD or asthma, vaping has been linked to an increase in the severity of symptoms .

Another study found that proteases are stimulated by e-cigarette vapour. The vapour was prepared from different e-cigarette brands and then used to treat isolated white blood cells in the lab.

Levels of the enzymes were found to be similar to or more than when the cells were exposed to an extract prepared from cigarette smoke. The increase in enzyme levels was also found with nicotine-free e-cigarette products suggesting that other components in the e-cigarette vapour were responsible.

A recent US study , published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine , investigated the effect of chronic e-cigarette use on markers of lung injury in the airways of vapers. Proteases linked to tissue damage were increased in both smokers and vapers, compared with non-smokers.

Difficult to research

The problem with investigating the potential harm of e-cigarettes is that there is such a vast array of products, devices and flavourings that it's impossible to create a "standardised exposure".

According to a report by the US Surgeon General , 97 percent of young vapers used a flavoured product in the previous 30 days. Individual e-cigarette products are reported to have over six flavouring chemicals with the sweetest flavours having a significantly higher number of compounds.

Tests of 166 e-cigarette products showed that one in five (21 percent) contains flavouring chemicals (benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, vanillin) that can be toxic to the airways.

Several other toxic chemicals were also found and measurable levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), an important group of carcinogens in tobacco products, were in 70 percent of the products tested . The effect of inhaling these complex mixtures of chemicals will be very difficult to determine.

The recent reports of deaths in the US associated with vaping fans further concerns on safety. The CDC has reported a rising number of cases (530 across 38 states) of a mysterious "lipoid" (presence of fat in the lung) pneumonia , most of which have occurred in young men who vape, and which has been linked to eight deaths .

But it is worth noting that some who have developed lipoid pneumonia admitted that they vape THC (the active ingredient in cannabis), although others have insisted that they only used nicotine products with their e-cigarettes.

One substance called vitamin E acetate has been identified in all the samples tested by New York state health officials, but there isn't enough evidence to say if this is the cause of disease. And so far, no cases of lipoid pneumonia have been reported outside the US.

The evidence to date suggests that vaping is not a safe alternative to smoking tobacco. This, coupled with the worrying trend of young, previous non-smokers being attracted to vaping, raises fears of yet another generation suffering from chronic lung disease.

Lorraine Martin , Professor of Biomolecular Science, Queen's University Belfast and James Reihill , Senior Research Fellow, Queen's University Belfast .

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

Researchers Note Latest Vaping Concern: ‘Hacked’ E-Cigarette Devices

June 27, 2024

[Originally published: Sept. 13, 2018. Updated June 27, 2024.]

Although e-cigarette use among adolescents and teenagers has reportedly declined , concerns remain, including ways that young people modify or “hack” their devices.

A recent study published online in Pediatrics and authored by Yale Department of Psychiatry scientists showed that as many as four out of every 10 teenagers and young adults who vape (a term for using an e-cigarette device) modify the devices, potentially risking lung injury, burns, and allowing for covert use of marijuana.

According to the study, 40.1% of 1,018 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 29 surveyed said they refilled devices not intended to be refilled and 35.8% recharged the battery of vaping pods meant to be thrown out after one use. Others reported mixing nicotine and cannabis liquids in devices designed only for nicotine.

It’s understandable why researchers want to keep on top of what youth are doing with vaping products. In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised people to avoid e-cigarettes while federal and state officials investigated an ongoing nationwide outbreak of severe lung injuries associated with the use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products. The condition came to be called “e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury,” or EVALI .

Patients affected by the disease have symptoms ranging from cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath to fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, and fever. Since the initial outbreak, federal and state officials have reported thousands of cases and dozens of deaths related to EVALI.

Researchers have also identified vitamin E acetate, a chemical added to some THC-containing vaping products, as the main—but possibly not the only—cause of the illness. The 2019 outbreak of EVALI cases emerged against a backdrop of an ongoing vaping epidemic among youth. According to the CDC, 15% of EVALI patients were less than 18 years old.

“E-cigarette use is never safe for youth, young adults, or pregnant women,” said CDC’s Dana Meaney-Delman, MD, who led the agency’s response to the 2019 outbreak. The CDC further warned against using any vaping products that contain THC; buying devices from “informal sources, including friends and family”; and modifying or adding substances to e-cigarettes. For adults using the devices to quit smoking, the advice is to “weigh all risks and benefits and consider using FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapies.”

One study found that people who use only e-cigarettes increase their risk of developing lung disease by about 30% compared with nonusers. At the same time, the risk of being diagnosed with lung disease—which includes chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)—was highest among adults who smoke cigarettes and vape, according to the researchers, who tracked study participants over three years.

In 2016, the U.S. Surgeon General’s office began the work of awareness when the nation’s doctor, Jerome Adams, MD, issued a warning that vaping among youth has reached epidemic levels.

The numbers were shocking. More than 5 million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes, according to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Study (NYTS), up from more than 3.6 million the previous year.

Another study that year found that the rates of youth who say they vaped with nicotine in the past month more than doubled in two years. About 11% of high school seniors reported this habit in 2017, compared to 25%, or one in four seniors, in 2019. Among eighth graders, the numbers jumped from 3.5 to 9%.

More recently, the vaping numbers have dipped. The 2023 NYTS showed that about 2 million middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the last 30 days.

What is vaping?

To understand vaping, it’s best to start on broad terms. To vape is to inhale vapor created from a liquid heated up inside a device. From there, things quickly get complicated. The devices have many names—vape pens, pod mods, tanks, electronic nicotine delivery devices (ENDS), e-hookahs and e-cigarettes.

The liquid they contain also has many monikers—it might be called e-juice, e-liquid, cartridges, pods, or oil. Most vape liquids contain a combination of propylene glycol or glycerol—also called glycerin—as a base, and nicotine, THC, or flavoring chemicals to produce common or outlandish flavors, from mint to “unicorn puke.” The devices rely on batteries to power heating elements made of various materials that aerosolize the liquid.

Problems even before EVALI outbreak

Since e-cigarettes arrived in the U.S. in 2007, they have been investigated by addiction researchers as possible cessation devices for adults trying to quit combustible, or regular, cigarettes. The FDA lists 93 harmful or potentially harmful chemicals found in regular cigarettes, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) describes cigarettes as having more than 7,000 chemicals in them. Because e-cigarettes contain fewer chemicals the industry has presented them as a healthier alternative to regular cigarettes. But vape liquids can still contain nicotine, a highly addictive drug.

And on one point, Yale health researchers who study the health effects of vaping and e-cigarettes agree: Vape devices have not been proven to help adult smokers quit smoking. Moreover, vaping increases the risk a teen will smoke regular cigarettes later.

“The addiction to nicotine and later conversion to (or dual use with) regular cigarettes are the greatest concerns,” says Roy S. Herbst, MD , Yale Medicine’s chief of medical oncology at Yale Cancer Center. He points to two heavyweight organizations, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), that have issued statements that vaping could be harmful to youth. (Dr. Herbst chairs the AACR Tobacco & Cancer Subcommittee that led the development of the statement.)

A worrying trend

When potentially risky behaviors experience an uptick in popularity, health researchers are never far behind—gathering data. A Yale study in 2019 found that, among students at three Connecticut public schools, those who used e-cigarettes were more likely to smoke regular cigarettes in the future.

Krishnan-Sarin points to progress that has been made—finally—in recent years to reduce regular cigarette smoking rates among young adults. In her opinion, the significant decline is due to the success of large-scale public health campaigns and a general awareness among youth that cigarettes are harmful to health.

She is concerned that most teens who vape with nicotine don’t know the drug can be damaging to their development. “We have a lot of evidence showing that the adolescent brain is extremely sensitive to the effects of nicotine,” she says, adding that the brain doesn’t stop growing until around age 25. “Studies have shown us that nicotine can interfere with memory and attention processing.”

In his imaging studies of adults who use e-cigarettes, Stephen Baldassarri, MD , an internist at Yale Medicine, has begun to gather information on the factors that influence nicotine delivery from e-cigarettes and whether vaping promotes cessation from conventional cigarette smoking. Teens cannot participate in such studies, but “we all agree that e-cigs are not a good thing for youth and nonsmokers,” Dr. Baldassarri says.

How to talk to your kids

Probably the worst thing a parent could do for their child would be to buy an e-cigarette under the misconception that this might prevent them from smoking regular cigarettes, Krishnan-Sarin says. She encourages parents to talk openly and freely about vaping—with the caveat that they provide accurate information. “I think the problem is that parents lose credibility if they say something to try and convince their child, who then finds out that it isn’t true,” she says.

"Parents should base their information on accurate facts and also encourage their children to read about and understand the science on this issue instead of relying on what their friends and peers tell them."

Dr. Baldassarri suggests explaining the addictive nature of vaping, which would mess with the one thing teens crave the most: independence. “In some ways, when you get addicted to a drug, it’s like losing your freedom of choice,” he says. “The risk of losing that freedom might be a persuasive message for kids.”

Deepa Camenga, MD , a pediatrician who is board-certified in addiction medicine, says it’s never too early to begin talking about e-cigarettes in age-appropriate language. “When you are out and about with your children and see an advertisement, for example, take the opportunity to talk about it,” she says. As they grow older, parents can expand on their thoughts and expectations. “It’s also important to give teens and young adults the space to ask questions,” she says.

Patrick O’Connor, MD , Yale Medicine’s chief of general internal medicine, who has dedicated his career to researching opioid and alcohol drug abuse, points to similarities between epidemic cigarette use in the 1940s and 50s, and e-cigarette use now.

Even as evidence accumulated on the link between lung cancer and cigarette use, doctors didn’t always take time to talk to patients about those risks, he says. “I think it’s a major responsibility of physicians, family medicine doctors, pediatricians, and adolescent medicine practitioners. One of the big deficits in medical education has been to prepare medical students to address these issues with their patients, ask them about their use of these substances, and advise them on the risks,” Dr. O’Connor says. “This is as true for e-cigarette use and vaping as it is for alcohol and other drug use.”

What may be the most important message of all is that e-cigarettes and vaping come with many health unknowns, Dr. O’Connor adds. “You see plumes of what looks like steam coming out of people’s mouths on the street when they are vaping, and I think they assume it’s mostly safe, mostly water. But these liquids used in vaping are filled with all kinds of stuff [like nicotine, marijuana, flavoring agents, chemicals], and we don’t always know what else is in there,” he says.

Surgeon General Adams echoed these concerns in his news conference following the release of his initial advisory: “Studies show that youth, like my son, have no clue what's in these products most of the time.”

Months after the release of that advisory, Yale researchers found that byproducts, called acetals, form when flavoring agents mix with solvents in the liquid. It is not yet known if this has negative effects on the body, but Sven-Eric Jordt, PhD, one of the study’s authors, says he hopes that the FDA will begin to study the short- and long-term effects of inhaled acetals.

But parents shouldn’t wait for government regulations and monitoring to catch up with this disturbing trend, says Richard Martinello, MD , an infectious disease specialist who has treated EVALI patients.

“Kids are smart. They do make good decisions and while it may not seem like it at times, they do listen,” Dr. Martinello says. “It’s critical that they hear from parents and other loved ones about the dangers of vaping. They may not hear this from their friends."

More news from Yale Medicine

What does vaping do to your body and why is it being banned in Australia?

By Velvet Winter

Topic: Vaping

The federal government is determined to stop people from vaping recreationally. ( Unsplash: Donn Gabriel Baleva / ABC News: Jacqueline Howard )

More than 18 months after the coalition government first attempted to take nicotine vapes out of Australian hands, the Labor government has announced the most restrictive laws yet.

The sale of nicotine vapes without a prescription was outlawed in late 2021 but federal Health Minister Mark Butler says not enough has been done to curb illegal imports, creating a thriving black market.

Here's what you need to know.

Why is the government cracking down on vaping now?

Because we know vaping isn't good for you in the short-term and we don't know what kind of adverse health effects it could have in the long-term.

On Tuesday the Government said that all single-use disposable vapes would be banned.

Speaking at the National Press Club, Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler said that not enough is being done to curb vaping and to stop vapes falling into young hands.

"Vaping was sold to governments and to communities all around the world as a therapeutic product to help long term smokers quit," Mr Butler said.

"It was not sold as a recreational product, and in particular, not one for our kids. That is what it has become."

According to Mr Butler, one in six teenagers aged 14-17 has vaped and one in four young Australians aged 18-24 has vaped.

Mr Butler also revealed that over the past 12 months, Victoria's poisons hotline took 50 calls about children under the age of four ingesting vapes.

This uptick in underage people having access to vapes and young people who don't smoke cigarettes taking up nicotine vaping is what has prompted the government's current crackdown.

Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler told the National Press Club on Tuesday that the former government did not do enough to stop recreational vaping.

Why are vapes bad for you?

Most vapes contain high amounts of nicotine which has long been associated with a number of long-term health problems.

In addition to that, more than 200 chemicals have been associated with the liquids inside vapes, including chemicals commonly found in nail-polish remover and weed killer.

According to the Australian government, the short-term effects of vaping can include increased risk of lung infections, asthma, heart disease and a weakened immune system.

But what's more worrying is the potential for long-term effects.

It's likely there is a health risk from vaping long-term, but vaping is still new, so there hasn't been time to conduct a long-term study.

It took about 40 years of people smoking cigarettes before scientists proved they were a health risk.

What does vaping do to your body?

When you breathe in vapour, some of the chemicals are absorbed through cells in your mouth into the bloodstream.

When the vapour reaches the lungs, more chemicals are absorbed there, too.

On the way back out of your mouth, more of the chemicals are absorbed, and the rest is exhaled, creating a visible mist.

Is vaping better than smoking?

Generally, vaping is thought to be less harmful that smoking tobacco cigarettes due to the high amount of added chemicals found in tailor-made cigarettes.

However, some harmful chemicals have been found in the liquids and vapour of e-cigarettes, albeit at lower levels than in tobacco smoke.

And that doesn't mean that vaping is safe.

Wait, weren't vapes already banned?

Restrictions were brought in two years ago but   the laws didn't really stop vaping.

Back in 2021, the federal government made it illegal for any Australian to purchase or import nicotine vapes or e-cigarettes without a prescription from a doctor.

Now vapes can't be imported unless you're a doctor.

And there will be no more watermelon-flavoured, bright pink vapes either — they'll all be unflavoured and in plain packaging.

According to Mr Butler, the former coalition government weren't being strict enough on vape imports while also making it too hard for smokers to obtain a legal prescription.

"The former government ended up creating the perfect conditions for this unregulated, essentially illegal market to flourish right before our eyes," Mr Butler said.

"A so called prescription model with next to no prescriptions, a ban with no real enforcement and an addictive product with no support to quit."

The announcement of stricter border controls on the import on vapes also came with major government support for those looking to quit smoking including $30 million for support programs and $63 million for a 'national evidence-based information campaign'.

It will also be easier for people to get a prescription vape to quit smoking as all doctors will be able to provide nicotine vapes, rather than smokers needing approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

What has been the expert reaction to the new laws?

Overwhelmingly, public health experts have welcomed the ban on imports and change to allow doctors to prescribe vapes more easy.

"A change to Australia's prescription only model of regulating vaping products is long overdue," says Professor Wayne Hall, from the University of Queensland's National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research.

"Most Australian smokers who use vaping products break the law by obtaining them without a prescription because the AMA and medical colleges discourage doctors from prescribing them."

Professor Simon Chapman of Public Health at the University of Sydney has pushed back on the laws being branded a ban.

"Vapes are not being banned but strictly regulated like they always should have been. Anyone who says they are banned probably also believes that every prescribed drug in Australia is by the same argument also banned," Professor Chapman said.

However, not all experts are convinced that the new laws will work as intended.

"I am gravely concerned that the government's new policy will do more harm than good," says Professor of Health Behaviour Ron Borland from University of Melbourne's School of Psychological Sciences.

"There is no reasonable doubt that vaping is a lot less harmful than smoking, and these changes are likely to increase smoking rates and thus increase the burden of ill health and premature mortality in Australia."

Professor Borland would like to see Australia take a page from New Zealand's vaping response. Vapes are legal for those over 18 in New Zealand but must meet a number of strict safety protocols including health warnings on packages.

Editor’s note 5 May 2023: This story has been updated to make clear that the 2021 regulations related to vapes or e-cigarettes that contain nicotine and that the new laws seek to ban all vapes.

Vaping Should Be Banned Essay

They are at least 95% safer than smoking tobacco. The liquid use for vaping contains four basic ingredients, propylene glycol, vegetable glycerol, nicotine, and flavoring. Propylene(PG) is the carrier for the nicotine and flavoring, which produces the vapor. Vegetable Glycerol(VG) is the back up carrier, sometimes combined with Propylene. Nicotine is an alkaloid which is found in tobacco plants. Nicotine does have addictive properties, it also has a stimulus effect on the brain triggering receptors and letting off chemicals. Flavoring varies from many things.

Big Tobacco ignored vaping until it grew large to threaten its profits. “Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment of Electronic cigarettes Substitutes” by Dr. Farsalines of Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center concluded that “currently available evidence indicates that electronic cigarettes are by far less harmful alternative to smoking and significant health benefits are expected in smokers who switch from tobacco to e-cigarettes”. This problem exists because tobacco companies will not let vaping take over. Big Tobacco’s action against small startups that are helping people quit smoking cigarettes .

Companies are spending millions of dollars to push products bans, higher taxes and expensive regulation on their competitors. Vape laws are coming about and it is a problem that has not been fully solved. With other countries and the community trying to petition to allow the use of e-cigarettes it is causing a lot of controversy. If vape laws go forward the FDA has to approve whatever is being made and it is going to cost millions of dollars for one thing. The tobacco industry can spend money to their disposal to decrease their competitors.

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Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Smoking — Should Smoking Be Made Illegal: Argumentative

Should Smoking Be Made Illegal: Argumentative

• Categories: Smoking Smoking Ban Tobacco

About this sample

Words: 674 |

Updated: 8 December, 2023

Words: 674 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Works Cited

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/index.htm
• Chatterjee, K., & Chatterjee, K. (2014). Secondhand Smoke: Are We Protecting Our Children? Lung India, 31(4), 369–377.
• Foulds, J., Ramstrom, L., Burke, M., & Fagerström, K. (2003). Effect of Smokeless Tobacco (Snus) on Smoking and Public Health in Sweden. Tobacco Control, 12(4), 349–359.
• Hatsukami, D. K., & Stead, L. F. (2020). Tobacco Use: Prevention, Cessation, and Control. Oxford University Press.
• Hu, T.-W., Lee, A. H.-Y., Mao, Z., & Ong, M. (2016). China at the Crossroads: The Economics of Tobacco and Health. World Scientific Publishing.
• National Cancer Institute. (2020). Harms of Cigarette Smoking and Health Benefits of Quitting. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/tobacco/cessation-fact-sheet
• Peto, R., Lopez, A. D., Boreham, J., Thun, M., & Heath, C. Jr. (2016). Mortality from Smoking in Developed Countries 1950-2010: Indirect Estimates from National Vital Statistics. Oxford University Press.
• Schick, S., & Glantz, S. (2005). Philip Morris Toxicological Experiments with Fresh Sidestream Smoke: More Toxic than Mainstream Smoke. Tobacco Control, 14(6), 396–404.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2014). The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health.
• World Health Organization. (2019). WHO Global Report on Trends in Prevalence of Tobacco Smoking 2000-2025, Second Edition. World Health Organization.

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Related Essays on Smoking

Smoking has numerous health effects, both short-term and long-term. Some of the short-term effects include bad breath, yellow teeth, and decreased sense of taste and smell. The long-term effects, however, are much more severe. [...]

While the idea of making tobacco illegal may seem like a definitive solution to the smoking epidemic, it is crucial to consider the broader implications and potential unintended consequences. Prohibition would undoubtedly have [...]

Vaping, the act of inhaling and exhaling aerosol produced by electronic cigarettes or vape pens, has become a subject of intense debate in recent years. Proponents argue that it offers several advantages over traditional [...]

Smoking is a prevalent practice in many societies, with approximately 1 billion people engaging in this habit. The act of smoking involves burning substances, such as tobacco or cannabis, and inhaling the resulting smoke into [...]

Stop smoking it can cost you your life! What is smoking? How can something small cause so much harm to the world? Smoking is an addictive drug that can cause death or cancer it has caused, More than 10 times as many U.S. [...]

For years there has been conflicting research whether smoking should be banned or not and it is a significant issue today. Many people have given up smoking while others still continue to smoke. Smoking is the inhalation and [...]

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