Vaping Versus Tobacco Smoking: Which Is Better?; FDA Regulates E-cigarettes
Vaping has remained a debatable topic among scientists. However, yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration finally got the approval to regulate e-cigarettes.
There are quite a number of regular tobacco smokers who shifted to vapes a few years back.
Surveys released in 2015 by UK's Office for National Statistics states that there's a recorded drop of tobacco users in the UK. Specifically in England and for the 18-24 age group, the count dropped from 26.9 percent in 2010 to 23.2 percent in 2014.
A vape (also known as e-cigarrette) is an electronic device designed to substitute tobacco. This delivers nicotine and other flavor-producing chemicals to the smoker.
Vapes have three components: a power source, a heating device (vaporizer) and a cartridge, where the liquid solution with all the chemicals is placed.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
However, some smokers continued smoking the traditional way as the effects of vaping are not yet clear to everyone, including scientists and researchers.
There are reports that some scientists agree that vaping is a lot less dangerous than smoking. However, there are cases which reveal that some e-cigarettes also have some of harmful chemicals and nicotine content.
A debatable question: Is vaping less harmful than smoking?
Another report written by Professor John Britton and his colleagues in the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), bared that e-cigarettes have helped lessen the number of smokers lurking in public places in some communities.
Members of the National Health Service of England agreed with the RCP. A study shows that e-cigarettes do not have the same burning toxins traditional tobaccos produce in public places, such as carbon monoxide and tar. There are toxicants found inside vapes. However, some scientists say that vapors have it in a much lower level.
Dangerous to health
Even when there are groups of scientists who agree that e-cigarettes are better than regular smoking, there are also a number of scientists who disagree with this.
For one, vapors contain the flavoring ingredient diacetyl, which is found to be one of the causes of lung diseases. Another is the presence of formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing agent.
Researchers from the University of California tested some smoke extracts from vapors and used it in a lab experiment by treating human cells.
It was later found out that e-cigarettes that are pronounced to be with less nicotine have caused DNA strand breakage on 50 percent of the samples, as compared to human cells which were not treated with vapor smoke.
According to Jessica Wang-Rodriguez, a professor from the University of California in San Diego, vapors are not as safe as they appear on marketing materials.
Wang-Rodriguez added that because of the recent evidences, it still cannot be concluded that vapors are safer than tobacco.
Dr. Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation also disclosed that e-cigarettes still need to be closely monitored, since the long-term effects of vapors have neither been openly explored nor focused on.
Wang-Rodriguez added that "chain-vapers" should also slow down in using the substitute, as it may cause more complications than smoking itself.
She added that the better option would be to quit smoking by substituting the act with e-cigarettes, and by doing so would also mean having to quit vapes eventually.
Kevin Fenton, the National Director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England, also promised to stay updated of the research developments regarding vapes.
FDA regulates the use of vapes
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally received an approval to regulate e-cigarettes on Monday. This means that all 500 vapor brands that have been in existence since 2007 will have to go through the regulatory board before they can be distributed to the public.
According to the American Lung Association, this will prevent teenagers from consuming nicotine at a very young age. The act will also allow the monitoring of certain e-cigarettes, which pose more harmful effects to the community.
