Health

Vaping can be dangerous especially to young people

“Vaping is harmful, period. For health, especially for youth,” says the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

According to recently released statistics from Statistics Canada, two-thirds of Canadian teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 have vaped or used e-cigarettes as an alternative to smoking.

Comparatively, one-third of young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 admitted to using an e-cigarette before a cigarette.

“This is the big concern that we always had at Heart and Stroke with respect to vaping, which was that we were quite worried a number of years ago, that it would be a gateway to cigarette use for youth. And in fact, that’s what we see,” says Manuel Arango, director of policy and advocacy at the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

“Now, you’re getting dual use, and you’re getting hit with the double whammy of very harmful vaping. And then very harmful smoking, and it’s initiated by the vaping.”

According to the StatsCan report, vaping may be less dangerous than inhaling cigarette smoke. In a blog article about whether vaping can assist smokers in quitting their addiction, John Hopkins Hospital reiterates this claim. Using nicotine-containing e-cigarettes increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, blood clotting, and damage to small arteries, according to a 2021 study from a Swedish research team led by Gustaf Lyytinen, a clinician at Helsingborg Hospital and researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Despite its small size, this research reveals that nicotine-filled e-cigarettes have a comparable negative effect on the body’s health as conventional cigarettes. Earlier studies claimed that vaping might aid users in quitting cigarettes. But a lot of people have made the opposite case.

What is in the Vape?

Only a small portion of the chemicals present in tobacco smoke are produced by vaping products, and some of the potentially dangerous ones are also produced at lower amounts.

Aerosol, which is falsely referred to as “water vapour” when vaped, contains certain potentially dangerous compounds. In addition to nicotine, vaping liquids frequently include compounds for flavouring as well as glycerol (vegetable glycerin) and propylene glycol (PG). The long-term dangers of breathing these compounds are unknown and are still being investigated, despite the fact that these ingredients are thought to be safe for usage in meals and cosmetics.

While vaping involves heating a liquid, there is no burning involved. When heated to a high temperature, PG and glycerol separate to create new substances known as carbonyl compounds, sometimes referred to as aldehydes (such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde,acrolein, etc.).

Canadian Government has dedicated a good portion of their website to inform Canadians on potential risks consuming Vape products.