E-Cigarettes: What Are the Risks for Teens? See Updates Here! [VIDEO]

• comments
• 
• 

Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered smoking devices often designed to look and feel like regular cigarettes. They use cartridges filled with a liquid that contains nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals.

A heating device converts the liquid into vapor, which the smoker then inhales. That is why using e-cigarettes smoking is called "vaping."

People do not inhale the same amounts of tar and carbon monoxide as they would with a regular cigarette as e-cigarettes do not burn tobacco. But anyone using the device still gets an unhealthy dose of nicotine and other chemicals. So in a strict comparison of e-cigarettes and cigarettes, the former is not as dangerous, according to Kidshealth.

Electronic cigarettes started as a way to help smokers to quit smoking. Now that e-cigarettes have gone main stream, regulators and scientists are taking notice. U.S. health officials worry that e-cigarettes will entice new users, who would have never gotten addicted to nicotine otherwise.

There is a rift in the world of e-cigs, and both sides are public-health experts. In the United States, tobacco-control advocates have taken a stiff position on e-cigarettes use, treating them as no different and no safer than regular cigarettes. Top U.K. doctors and health authorities have a more permissive stance, suggesting e-cigarettes as a safer alternative to actual cigarettes.

According to The Atlantic, the U.S. surgeon general, Vivek Murthy issued a report on e-cigarette use in teens and young adults, it is the most critical demographic if you are worrying about new users. The report is however, unequivocal in its warnings.

E-cigarette use among high school students in the U.S. has grown 900 percent since 2011. The report also provides scientific evidence that young people with developing brains are particularly sensitive to nicotine. Lastly, it criticized the industry for marketing to teens with candy-flavored vape juice.

 Erika Seward, Assistant vice president for advocacy, American Lung Association, upheld the surgeon general's report,

"We have a narrow window to act to implement proven policies that can prevent adolescent use. We cannot let that window close."

With their explosive growth in the last five years, e-cigarettes have surpassed cigarettes as the most commonly-used tobacco product among youth. It is just another way of putting nicotine, a highly addictive drug into your body.

Using e-cigs is a way of putting nicotine, which is absorbed through the lungs into one's system. In addition, Nicotine has high toxic dose, It was even used as an insecticide to kill bugs.

Nicotine affects the brain, nervous system, and the heart. It raises blood pressure and heart rate capable of causing abnormal heart rate (arrhythmia). In rare cases, arrhythmias can cause heart failure and death.

After its initial effects wear off, the body starts to crave nicotine. It may cause depression and tiredness known as nicotine withdrawal. Continuous use can lead to medical issues including blood clots, heart disease, and stomach ulcers.

Because nicotine is so addictive, the best way to avoid the trouble of trying to quit smoking or stop using e-cigs is never to start. If you smoke and want to quit, then e-cigarettes is not the best option. E-cigs mimics the experience of smoking tobacco cigarettes more than other quitting options, such as nicotine gum or patches.

E-cigarettes users who want to quit need to follow the same steps as would with tobacco smokers, such as making a specific plan, Stay busy, Delay giving in to craving, get support, be good to yourself and finally remain focused on the reason why you want to quit.

E-cigarettes do not fill the lungs with harmful smoke but that does not make it a healthy alternative to regular cigarettes. Nicotine is an addictive drug and it is never easy to quit. The best strategy is not to start using it in the first place.