Vaping: It ’s hard to quit, but help is available

E-cigarettes burst onto the scene in the 2010s and were quickly embraced by the public as a solution to the problem of smoking, even heralded by former Surgeon General Richard Carmona as having “very meaningful harm reduction potential” for adult smokers. Astonishingly, e-cigarette manufacturers were never required to demonstrate that their devices were safe, or even safer than combustible cigarettes — the idea that a product could be more health-harming than tobacco seemed so unfathomable as to be not worthy of serious consideration. Fast forward a decade and a lot has happened The e-cigarette industry continually developed “new and improved” versions of their product in order to expand their market and increase sales. E-cigarettes, rebranded as sleek “vaping devices” and designed to appeal to youth, attracted large numbers of children, adolescents, and young adults who were nonsmokers, and many became addicted to nicotine. While nicotine is the active ingredient in both combustible and electronic cigarettes, “vapes” can deliver a much higher dose much faster than traditional cigarettes. This makes the nicotine in vapes even more addictive. Exposure to high doses of nicotine can also result in consequences not typically seen in people who get lower doses of nicotine from traditional tobacco products, such as difficulty with concentration and memory, and even seizures from nicotine toxicity. The news media has documented stories of teens whose lives were der...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Addiction Lung disease Smoking cessation Source Type: blogs