To Vape or Not to Vape
If you don’t live under a rock, you know that in today’s popular culture, many young people are vaping. A vapor is an e-cigarette which allows the user to inhale vapours instead of cigarette smoke. E-cigarettes originally came to the scene seven years ago, originating in China three years prior before hitting the Western market. Vapours are marketed as a fun and harmless little gadget, a safe alternative to the traditional tobacco cigarette. But, this three-billion-dollar industry hasn’t been exactly truthful.
A study recently emerged in mid-2015 showing the possible health effects rising in consumers of vapour products. With the street name Popcorn Lung, this debilitating respiratory disease causes scarring of lung tissue. Popcorn Lung seems to emerge from certain chemicals found in the fruity flavours of vapours, more specifically a chemical called diacetyl. Diacetyl is directly linked to the formation of scars in lungs causing an inability to breathe, and rapid weight loss before tumour-like symptoms start to appear.
Now, I’m all about “power to the people” and “sticking it to the man”, but there is just something so wrong about smoking that I can’t get over. The common e-cigarette consumer would tend to agree with me too, that’s why they vape instead of smoke. In reality, the use of a vapour increases a teen’s chance of smoking by up to 76%. Vaping, while originally intended for the smoker trying to ween themselves off of the habit, may just be creating the newest generation of smokers. We were doing so well too, as smoking rates have drastically decreased by 24.6% since 1990. So seriously, don’t give adults another reason to call teenagers immature and ignorant. Put down the vapour, and save yourself the trouble of becoming just another statistic.
Sources: medicinenet.com, sciencenews.org
Photo credit: southerncanabis.org