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Published On: Mon, May 14th, 2018

We Need to Be Realistic With Kids About Vaping

Abstinence from smoking is a good thing. Long-term risks from smoking should never be promoted, and while the idea of abstinence is admirable, this doesn’t mean that everyone will follow it.

Discouraging younger people from smoking is ideal, and the FDA does a good job at ensuring anyone under 18 isn’t able to buy cigarettes or even vaping products.

But where do we cross the line? Misinformation on products can result in negative responses, too.

Two brands of e-cigs with the corresponding spare battery.
Equazcion at the wikipedia project

Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois, has pushed the abstinence from smoking movement, but he has also spread as lot of misinformation. “Originally, vaping was sold as the healthy alternative to tobacco cigarettes, the way to end tobacco addiction. And it turns out it’s insidious and harmful in it of itself and it doesn’t guarantee any end to tobacco addiction,” he stated.

Yet, how true is this? Would parents rather their kids smoke cigarettes or choose a safer alternative?

The variety of e cigarette options available to users is immense. This large selection can be intimidating to people who know little about the industry. Confusion regarding the different types of vape devices helps form theories of the dangers of vaping. But when you dig into the research, there’s a different story to be told.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer that kids should not be smoking.

The question I have is if Senator Durbin’s comments were correct or not?

Studies Prove That E Cigarettes are Safer

The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine conducted a wide-scale study on vaping. The 800 peer-reviewed studies show that e cigarettes are safer than cigarettes for individual smokers. United States lawmakers are also mentioned because they are taking a hard line against vaping, while England and other countries are promoting vaping as a safer alternative.

A report from National Academies found that e cigarettes have less carcinogens and toxicants than combustible cigarettes. Health-wise, it’s better to vape than it is to smoke, but the study also shows that there isn’t a concrete answer on whether or not e cigarettes help a person actually stop smoking.

The findings are inconclusive, with many people smoking and vaping rather than choosing vaping over smoking completely.

A concern from the findings is that e cigarettes may be a gateway to traditional cigarettes. Studies do show that there is an association between e cigarettes and younger people smoking traditional cigarettes. The University of Southern California claims that it’s still unclear whether these individuals that go from vaping to smoking are merely more likely to start smoking or not.

One thing we know for sure is that vaping doesn’t have the same death toll as cigarettes. One-in-five deaths in the US are linked to cigarette smoking.

Evidence from several studies show that individuals who moved from cigarettes to e cigarettes experienced improvements in their dental, respiratory and cardiovascular health.

Yes, e cigarettes still result in higher levels of metabolites, and they’re still less safe than not smoking or vaping at all. But compared to traditional cigarettes, they remain the safer option when all of the facts are presented.

Author: Jacob Maslow

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