Vaping Youths: The importance of kicking the habit

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Initially vaping was hailed as the healthy way to smoke, but now it is being linked to a thread of deaths and chronic lung conditions.

So far, in the USA alone, 47 people have died and more than 2,000 have suffered lung injuries. Given the gravity of these statistics, what happens to the thousands of teenagers who have since become addicted to a habit previously marketed to them as innocent when it breaks that there actually are major health risks involved?

The latest reports of deaths in America have caused a number of countries to follow Thailand in banning the use of e-cigarettes including Brazil and India. Now, many health professionals are calling for urgent research to be conducted into their safety as a wave of concerns and fatalities are being attributed to their use.

“My understanding is that there has always been a number of people trying to find alternatives to the use of traditional cigarettes,” says Daniella Cornish, a medical doctor, whose PhD looked at asthma and COPD. Her interest in respiratory medicine means she has been closely following the evolving research and international news around vaping.

“I think that similarly to what happened historically with cigarette smoking, we might find that vaping will give rise to greater health concerns than were initially predicted.”

Given the emerging cases of health associated risks with e-cigarettes, especially from the USA, there was recent uproar in the media when it was felt by many that Public Health England (PHE) was still endorsing the use of them as an alternative to cigarette smoking.

PHE since commissioned a report in February 2019 to look further into vaping data. The report acknowledged that more research is required into the field of vaping in order to increase knowledge since there are a lot of gaps in their current research.

It also found that experimentation with vaping, especially amongst younger generations, seems to be on the rise and overall experimentation with various vaping products within the UK is on the rise – reflecting similar trends worldwide. However, the report still insists that e-cigarettes are at least 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes.

Despite this, in light of the American Lung Association issuing a statement saying that the use of e-cigarettes have reached epidemic levels in youths in the USA, many people including Daniella, have since shared their reservations about how the PHE report still states that ‘smokers should be advised to stop smoking as soon as possible and explore all the available options for support, including EC.’

Daniella says, “We should support our younger generation to not smoke in the first place and therefore we should definitely not be advertising vaping as a healthier alternative.”

The concerns between youngsters and vaping have recently been reinforced on revelation that the company Juul have become a huge target of potential lawsuits. Despite issuing statements to the effect that its main motive is to help smoking cessation in established smokers, they have been accused of mainly targeting the younger generation through their marketing.

The marketing campaigns of Juul, the largest distributor of e-cigarettes in the USA, boast a huge variety of flavours advertised to, arguably, make their devices more enticing towards youngsters. They are also marketed as accessible and discreet and were even previously advertised in sponsorships on events which purposely appeared in front of children. Thus, it is easy to see why many dispute Juul’s statement of innocence. After all, the company has admitted that some of its pods contain as much nicotine as a whole packet of cigarettes.

Although the effects of vaping products are still widely unknown, arising research and data is showing that vaping can actually have long-term health effects and aggravate pre-existing health conditions such as asthma by intensifying symptoms.

With tragic stories surrounding vape addictions rising, Georgia Marie Groom, 22, explains how she saved her ex-boyfriend’s life last year after his vape addiction triggered an asthma attack which stopped his heart beating.

“To everyone that vapes- you don’t know what is in it, so don’t do it,” she alerts. “My ex-boyfriend was only 20 when he had a severe asthma attack during the early hours of the morning. His heart stopped for 3 minutes and I had to do CPR before the ambulance arrived, luckily, they were eventually able to bring him back to life. It was the scariest moment of my life; he had gone completely purple.”

Nurses in the hospital told Georgia’s ex, Jack Norman, (who was a keen vaper at the time) that it was the worst asthma attack they had seen in ten years.

“He was in hospital for five days and the nurses told him that it was likely chemicals in the vape that had made the attack so bad, causing his throat to close up and his lungs to stop working. He was told he needed to stop vaping instantly. If you have asthma, you need to be extra careful, you don’t know if it could have in it which can harm you.”

Cases like Jacks are not in isolation. Sam Burgin, 19, was advised to stop vaping after a combined asthma and panic attack landed him in A&E last year. Despite this, he admits he is still drawn to vaping in social situations and that his traumatic experience has been unable to deter his mum from vaping despite having asthma too.

“I am living proof that vaping can cause respiratory issues which worries me especially with my mum having a similar condition,” Sam says. “But some people just become addicted to certain substances over an extended period of time. I had been vaping for almost four years when I had my attack. Stupidly, I believed that it would ease my anxiety, but in the long run it has made it worse.”

Sam was prescribed antidepressants to help with his anxiety after the attack- which he says was the worst experience of his life. He found himself gasping for air and his heart beating worryingly fast after smoking his vape just before he was due to go to bed.

“I know now that there are lots of dangers involved in vaping, and that is not a safe alternative to smoking. When I told the nurses I vaped, they warned that it could have likely caused irritation to my airways due to my asthma which was worsened by my anxiety issues. I definitely think vaping has found me addicted to nicotine. Although health-wise I feel better since cutting down, I can’t stop myself asking to borrow one of my friends’ devices in social situations.”

For Eimear Corbett, a continuing health professional nurse, advocating the use of e-cigarettes over smoking cigarettes means that vape devices are slowly becoming the social normality for many youngsters who already view vaping as attractive due to marketing campaigns. She wants to reinforce the dangers of using vaping devices.

Eimear explains, “We don’t know what the full risks are because it has not been around long enough to have the depth of research into it to see what the effects are on the body. It is not a natural thing to do and if you are inhaling chemicals and liquid where they shouldn’t be going then of course it is going to cause lung irritability and respiratory issues for people. Vaping is seen as more acceptable and I do worry about how the NHS is going to cope with the exact unknown effects in the future.”

As the number of vapers continues to rise to 3.2 million in the UK, Eimear urges people, especially youngsters, to not experiment with vaping, especially if they do not already smoke. She says stopping the habit can be hard, but people need to make the decision by accessing help available online and by visiting their GP for further help.

“There is nicotine in these devices, so it does cause addictions and on top of the addiction is the actual habit of always having it accessible in your hand – it easily becomes part of people’s everyday life. It can be as hard as giving up cigarette smoking- so you have got to want to do it, but in the long run for your health it will be worth it.”

Watch my MOJO on vaping here