In Europe, (and across the world), E-Cigarettes are becoming a more and more popular way of getting a nicotine-kick, but without the toxins that comes with smoking cigarettes. The contain a mix of nicotine and other ingredients to give the same addiction properties of cigarettes, but in generally a “less-harmful” way. In October, the European Union is voting to regulate the e-cigarette devices as if they are medical products. The article claims that in wealthy countries, smoking is declining, but “vaping” (using the vaporization of the nicotine mix in e-cigarettes), is on the rise.
The European Union is uneasy about E-Cigarettes, as they are a new product that delivers the nicotine kick and not enough studies have proven that they are healthier, yet a growing number of studies insist they are in fact significantly healthier than smoking.
I believe that the European Union should delay their vote on the subject before more research is done. E-Cigarettes are not only used leisurely, but as a tool to get people to quit smoking, which can be extremely beneficial. It still does not solve the problem of nicotine addiction however, as it just switches customers into an alternative product. Still, E-Cigarettes have the potential to reduce the known, negative health effects of smoking by having previous smokers switch to the new fad of “vaping”. If less people smoked cigarettes, society as a whole should have a general increase of overall health, therefore reducing patient volume, severity of cases, and other positive effects on the health system in place in the European countries.
One of the only negatives I see in E-Cigarettes is the potential to have non-smokers begin “vaping”, even though they have never smoked before. Still, I believe that E-Cigarettes have the potential to bring an overall positive impact on society by reducing smoking rates.
