Ecigs are advertised as a safer alternative to cigarettes because ecigarettes do not contain any tobacco. But Surgeon General Jerome Adams declared the use of e-cigarettes among America’s youth to be a full-blown epidemic in December.

What Are Ecigs?

An ecig is an electronic delivery system that allows the user to inhale vaporized liquid after the device adequately heats the liquid. The inhalation of this vapor is popularly known as vaping.

How Vaping Works

Vaping can be a dangerous activity, according to Yale Medicine. Simply put, anyone who is using a vaping device or an e-cigarette is inhaling vapor. That vapor comes from a liquid that has been heated up inside the device. There are many different names used to refer to vaping pens or devices. 

This includes e-cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery devices, and tanks. The liquid that is placed inside of these devices also has many different terms including e-liquid, pods, oil, or cartridges. Batteries power the heating elements inside the devices to aerosolize the liquid before it is vaped. 

With many different flavor options available for the liquids, the activity of vaping has become really popular with teens and young adults. Researchers and addiction specialists have been looking at the risk of ecigs since they came on the market, especially the variations that include a high amount of nicotine inside. 

What Is Inhaled Through An Ecig?

Even though e-cigarettes don’t contain tobacco, they do contain a mix of potentially harmful chemicals, including a high dose of nicotine. Formaldehyde, benzene and nitrosamines, all of which are carcinogens, have been found in vape emissions according to the American Lung Association.

Am I Safe to Inhale Vape Clouds Created By Others If I Don’t Vape?

The Surgeon General said that secondhand vape clouds expose others to the same carcinogens and nicotine that the user inhales.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 40 percent of American adults think secondhand exposure to vaping causes only some or a little harm to their children, and five percent think the secondhand vapor is harmless.

Children’s developing lungs and brains are particularly vulnerable to the effects of nicotine and carcinogens.

Many users believe the vapor is only water vapor, but the vapor consists of harmful chemicals that enter the body and enter the environment once exhaled.

From Ecigs to Smoking

Other studies have also found that even though ecigs are promoted as one way to curb general smoking habits that some teens are starting the other way around. This could be due to the high levels of nicotine inside the products leading teens to start using regular cigarettes instead of or in addition to the ecig devices. 

Teens who become addicted might not realize how the high levels of nicotine in ecigs could turn into a serious problem with nicotine overall. Addiction can cause medical problems for young teens, too, impacting their ability to grow and develop as healthily as possible. 

What Are the Effects of Vaping in Young People?

Nicotine is a highly addictive substance that can interfere with brain development. According to Teens Health from Nemours, nicotine can slow the brain development in teens and negatively affect memory, concentration, ability to learn, self-control, attention span and overall mood.

Some of the interference with brain development causes permanent damage, which means mood and impulse control could be affected throughout adulthood. The human brain doesn’t complete development until around the age of 25.

Nicotine addiction at a young age also can make a person more susceptible to other addictions later in life.

Not only the brain, but also the lungs suffer from vaping. Carcinogens are delivered to the lungs, which can suffer irritation and damage.

Why Are Young People Attracted to Ecigs?

E-cigarette brands such as JUUL, Vuse, Blu, Logic, MarkTen XL and others have created fruit-flavored vape juices with clever names that entice young people to try vaping.

The vape pens often look like USB devices, and can be charged by plugging them into a computer’s USB port. The apparatus is disguised so that even a savvy parent might walk by a computer or a laptop and not realize a vape pen is charging.

Why Do Kids Think Vaping Is Harmless?

Almost any teen who vapes will answer “no” when asked if he or she smokes. Kids do not equate vaping with smoking at all because the taste and the delivery system are so very different.

Many teens believe they are inhaling water vapor and that there is nothing harmful in the vape juice. In reality, a single pod of vaping liquid can contain the same amount of nicotine found in an entire pack of cigarettes.

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