The popularity of electronic cigarettes has been boosted by certain myths, including that users are only inhaling water vapor. If that was the case, the dangers would not be nearly as great as they are.

The use of an electronic cigarette is often called “vaping” instead of “smoking.” In fact, if you ask a young person if they smoke, most of the time they will say “no” because young people often do not consider vaping and smoking to be the same thing.

Electronic cigarettes are often called e-cigs for short, or vape pens. E-cigs are powered by rechargeable batteries that heat a liquid nicotine mixture that turns into a vapor the user inhales.

JUUL e-cigs are currently the most popular brand of electronic cigarettes, but they don’t resemble a cigarette at all. Instead, a JUUL e-cig looks like a USB drive, and is even charged by being plugged into a computer’s USB port. Other major vape manufacturers include Vuse, Blu, Logic, and MarkTen XL, among others.

Because e-cigarettes have no tobacco, many users consider vaping a “safe” alternative to smoking, but they are very wrong.

Electronic Cigarettes Contain Dangerous Chemicals

Even though electronic cigarettes don’t contain tobacco, they do contain nicotine. In fact, one JUUL pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of 10 cigarettes.

Nicotine is highly addictive. In fact, nicotine is said to be at least as addictive as heroin.

Nicotine can adversely affect the heart, hormones and the gastrointestinal system, and it is both a sedative and a stimulant, according to Medical News Today. The first hit of nicotine stimulates the adrenal glands, which respond by releasing adrenaline. That adrenaline stimulates the body to release glucose, increases the heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure.

Nicotine also can trigger the release of dopamine, which is in the area of the brain that processes pleasure. Higher dopamine levels in the brain bring a mental state of contentment.

Nicotine poisoning used to be a rare occurrence, and was actually more commonly linked with insecticide exposure than anything else. Now, according to Medical News Today, the popularity of vaping has spiked reports of cases of nicotine poisoning—indeed, vaping is now the most common cause of nicotine poisoning.

While nicotine can hook the e-cig user, a number of other chemicals come into play. Research shows e-cigarette vapors can contain carcinogens, such as formaldehyde, toluene, acetaldehyde and acrolein. In addition, particles of heavy metals, including cadmium, lead and nickel can emit from an e-cig and lodge deep in the lungs.

Like regular cigarettes, e-cigs also contain nitrosamines, which have been proven carcinogenic to the lungs. Science Direct reports that nitrosamines have been linked to cancerous tumors of the nasal cavity, lung, liver and pancreas in rats.

Reasons E-cigs Are Popular

The dangerous and addictive electronic cigaretteshave soared in popularity in recent years for several reasons. Young people particularly like the sugar-laced flavors such as bubble gum, mango, strawberry shortcake and a number of other sweet-tasting and pleasantly scented flavors that are available.

Ask almost any middle or high school student, and they will tell you that vaping has made smoking cool again. The JUUL e-cig device design alone makes users feel as if they are on the cutting edge of fashion.

Social media advertisements and celebrity social media posts add to the allure of the electronic cigarette movement, too. A recent behind-the-scenes photo of the “Game of Thrones” cast that went viral showed one of the young actresses using her JUUL between takes.

JUUL has 75 percent of the e-cig market, and is owned by the same company that makes Marlboro cigarettes.

The Percentage of Youth Vaping is Rapidly Increasing

The number of youths today who are vaping is growing rapidly from year to year. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 1.5 million more youths used e-cigarettes in 2018 than in 2017, or an increase of about a 38.3 percent.

Now, approximately 20.8 percent of high school students are e-cigarette users. Even among middle schoolers, vaping is becoming much more common—about 4.9 percent of middle schoolers are e-cigarette users. And not only have the number of kids using e-cigarettes increased: they’re using them far more often, as well.

Vaping Side Effects Pose A More Serious Risk for Youth

The brain is still developing until approximately age 25, so children and teenagers are even more susceptible to vaping complications that can severely affect their brains. Indeed, vaping can cause brain development issues that can affect learning, memory, and attention. Vaping can have long-term effects such as mood disorders, addiction, and permanent lowering of their impulse control, as well as major respiratory health issues.  E-cigarettes have also been tied to seizures in teens that have led to lawsuits.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.