To Vape or Not to Vape?

One of the main causes of disease and death in the United States is smoking cigarettes, which kills 480,000 people per year. Nicotine is the main addictive part of cigarettes and makes users feel satisfied and relaxed. Other parts of cigarettes, such as tobacco, contribute to toxic smoke from cigarettes; breathing in toxic smoke is tremendously harmful. So, alternative nicotine delivery systems were developed to be less harmful while still letting users feel nicotine effects. Some examples of alternatives are nicotine gum, nicotine patches and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). Risks and benefits of e-cigarettes are quite debatable.

Figure 1. Photo of an alternative nicotine delivery system, patches. Photo from WikiMedia Commons.

The effects of inhaling e-cigarette smoke, known as vaping, is still being researched. An article published earlier this year supports vaping as a solution for the decrease of smoking tobacco cigarettes. The study by Zhuang et al. was a longitudinal study, which observes the same people over time. Zhuang et al. surveyed more than 2000 smokers in the USA in 2012, then again in 2014. They found that smokers trying to quit were more likely to be successful using e-cigarettes than using an FDA-approved drug treatment.

Within the same study, quitting smoking was not linked to short-term use of e-cigarettes. Overall, long-term use of e-cigarettes reduces tobacco smoking. Reducing tobacco smoking can slow the rate of disease caused by smoking.

Figure 2. Cigarette smoke drifting through the air. Photo from WikiMedia Commons.

Risks of e-cigarette use are also being studied. In a 2017 study of more than 300 12^th graders surveyed in 2014 and again in 2015, Miech et al. found vaping to increase the likelihood of smoking cigarettes in the future. Youth who have never smoked but have vaped recently were 4 times more likely to also have smoked a cigarette within the past year.

The youth were also surveyed on their perception of cigarettes. Those who answered smoking is a “great risk” in 2014 and have vaped recently were found to be 4 times more likely to change their answer to smoking is less risky. E-cigarettes are concluded to pose as a risk for smoking among youth that needs to be restricted.

I think that vaping is acceptable, as long as the goal is to be healthier and not for fun. The benefits of decreasing actual disease and death caused by smoking outweigh the probable risk of vaping as a gateway to cigarette smoking. The best choice would be fully quit nicotine because addictions can impact finances and lifestyles negatively.

Figure 3. Signage prohibiting smoking and vaping at an establishment. Photo from WikiMedia Commons.

Alyssa Hui