Vaping, a term used for the act of smoking e-cigarettes, is invented as a way for chain smokers to slowly stop smoking cigarettes. These smokers often say that they are able to stay away from the carcinogens and other harmful substances by using vape devices, which they believe to have no dangerous effects on their body.
Over the years, vaping has become a craze in many countries around the world. It became so popular that several people who have never smoked cigarettes before, including teenagers, have also become addicted to vaping.
Research suggests that using vape devices is still as dangerous as cigarette smoking, despite having many people who vape claim that vaping is a healthier alternative to smoking.
Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t start, or you should stop vaping.
1. Most Vape Juices Still Contain Nicotine
The number one reason why smokers switched from cigarettes to vape is that they want to stay away from carcinogens while still having the nicotine that their body craves. Carcinogens are one of the leading causes of cancer, and the smoke that comes out of the tobacco has high amounts of carcinogens that can damage your lungs.
Nicotine is an addictive stimulant that is often found in cigarettes. Once you start smoking, you would have a difficult time stopping yourself from smoking another one because of nicotine. If you decide that you would suddenly stop smoking, you will go through a nicotine withdrawal phase, which can cause stress, anxiety, and depression.
In order to prevent the effects of nicotine withdrawal from happening, smokers will switch to vape and use juices with half as much nicotine as cigarettes to slowly decrease their craving for the stimulant. The juices are used to produce smoke from the vape.
After their body gets used to the 1/2 nicotine content, they will slowly move to 1/3 nicotine juices until they use ones without any nicotine. However, this process may take years, and some people might not even stop consuming nicotine at all since it is so addicting.
Consuming nicotine is arguably even worse than getting carcinogens in your body not only because it is addictive but also because it has hazardous effects on your body. Nicotine can cause heart palpitations, lack of sleep, and even cancer.
2. Vape Juice Has Toxic Chemicals
Besides having nicotine, vape juices also contain a toxic chemical called diacetyl. This chemical is used to produce the different flavors of vape juices from sweet ones like cookies or ice cream, to the savory flavors like pizza and burgers.
The flavors, like nicotine, can be quite addictive upon consumption, which is why many vape companies are using the chemical to deliver products that people will constantly buy.
However, diacetyl is a toxic chemical because it is a primary cause of disease in the respiratory system called bronchiolitis obliterans. As diacetyl has also been used to give artificial butter flavor to microwave popcorn, bronchiolitis obliterans also became known as “popcorn lungs” because the first people who were afflicted with this disease inhaled the chemical while working in microwave popcorn factories.
Popcorn lung causes inflammation in the bronchioles (the smallest airways of the lungs), which usually causes wheezing, shortness of breath, and dry cough.
3. A Vape’s Battery May Explode
To produce heat and smoke, vape devices often need to have batteries larger than most cells available in the market.
While it is true that any battery has a risk of exploding, vape devices are more susceptible to it since the battery just at the bottom of the device’s atomizer, which is the part of the vape that produces vapor from juices after heating it.
There have been numerous reports of vape devices exploding, with several videos on the internet showing the aftermath of the explosion. The vape’s explosion can cause third-degree burns in one’s face, and it may sometimes lead to death if the device’s shrapnel pierces a vital organ.
4. The FDA Does Not Regulate Vape Devices
Cigarettes and other tobacco products are inspected by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but devices used for vaping are not yet regulated.
If a potentially harmful product is regulated by the FDA, companies who produce them may need to put in the boxes of their products several warning labels and sample photos of people who are ill because of using them.
Since vaping is currently not completely regulated, vape products still do not have these caution labels in their boxes, and they continue making juices with flavors that can be addicting to teenagers and adults.
5. Vaping Doesn’t Guarantee You Will Quit Smoking
As previously stated, most vape juices still contain nicotine, which stops you from entirely quitting smoking. While a few people have stopped smoking cigarettes because of vape devices, they have just substituted their previous addiction with another potential addiction by vaping.
Also, vaping would cost a lot more money than smoking cigarettes since you would have to change the device’s battery, juice, and parts. One of the reasons why people want to quit smoking is because it affects their daily budget, but if they replace smoking with vaping, it may even give them more problems financially.
Conclusion
Smoking is difficult to let go for people who have become reliable to it, and that is why a few developed ways to help them move on from doing this dangerous act. Vaping may have started because as a beneficial way to quit smoking, but ever since it has become a trend, non-smokers started vaping as well, endangering their health just because they wanted to join the bandwagon.
If you are a smoker and you genuinely want to quit smoking, then you should consult your doctor and find ways to properly control and stop your addiction instead of using vaping devices.