The e-cigarette problem continues to grow! What defines Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS): Vapes, vaporizers, vape pens, hookah pens, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes or ecigs), and e-pipes.
The long term effects of these products remain unknown. There has been some research done linking them to pulmonary issues and other health effect to these delivery devices.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
- More than 2 million middle and high school students were current users of e-cigarettes in 2016.1, 2
- 11% of high school and 4.3% of middle school students were current users of e-cigarettes in 2016.1
- E-cigarette use rose from 1.5% to 16.0% among high school students and from 0.6% to 5.3% among middle school students from 2011 to 2015.1
- In 2013-2014, 81% of current youth e-cigarette users cited the availability of appealing flavors as the primary reason for use.
Although we have reached an era where less and less children are starting to smoke, the fear is these products have been linked as the “gate way” to smoking combustible cigarettes. The other concern is, since they are so popular among younger populations, are the e-cigarettes “re-normalizing” smoking behavior?
References:
Information has been gathered from the Center on Addiction (http://bit.ly/2CkLawY, http://bit.ly/2CcrKgb) and the FDA (http://bit.ly/2noucJr).
Pulmonary toxicity of e-cigarettes
Lauren F. Chun, Farzad Moazed, Carolyn S. Calfee, Michael A. Matthay, and Jeffrey E. Gotts
American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology 2017 313:2, L193-L206 http://bit.ly/2pMGc9z
