When e-cigarettes started becoming popular in 2006, millions of men and women thought of them as a convenient way to quit smoking. Others simply thought of them as new and innovative ways to get their nicotine fixes. Many others actually began inhaling nicotine for the first time in their lives. Throngs of this last group actually decided to start smoking regular cigarettes instead after being introduced to vaping! If you have been vaping, for whatever reason, there is valuable and potentially life-saving information you should be aware of.
Why Vaping is Considered Safe (even though it is not)
Vaping technology has provided millions of people a counterpart to smoking: vaping. This means that the chemicals containing the much sought-after nicotine are inhaled thought a vaporized mist instead of smoke. People wrongfully conclude that, since they are not inhaling smoke, vaping must be safer than smoking.
It might be true that the levels of chemicals that are known to cause cancer are usually lower, but they are still present to a large extent. It should also be remembered that companies who manufacture vaping kits are not too concerned about the safety of them. Their objective is to deliver a satisfying nicotine fix to their customers.
What is in E-Juice?
As should be expected, the manufacturers of e-cigarettes don’t have to be completely truthful about what goes into their products. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a hard time keeping track of the known chemicals in these products to begin with. Even if these chemicals can be tracked and monitored, there is little that they can do to discourage their use since smoking is universally known as an unhealthy habit to begin with.
The flavorings of e-cigarettes are what makes them appealing to so many people, including underage smokers. It’s the chemicals used to create these flavors that are can be so dangerous, not so much the nicotine. Aldehydes are somewhat organic compounds that are used to give e-cigarettes the flavors. While they might be safe for flavoring some foods to some extent, they are not so safe for vaping.
One of these kinds of chemicals goes by the name of diacetyl. Diacetyl is dangerous and science has proven it so. It has been directly linked to the formation of respiratory tract injury in rats and the news can’t be that better when it comes to humans.
Another such chemical commonly found in e-cigarettes is cinnamaldehyde, which is commonly used to produce a cinnamon flavor. Cinnamaldehyde is actually classified as an allergen and is used as a fungicide in the agricultural industry. However, its low level of toxicity makes it easy to add as an ingredient in vaping fluid. Small quantities of toxic chemicals are often not troublesome. When these chemicals are ingested over extended periods of time, they can start causing serious health problems.
Another Risk
E-cigarettes are powered by batteries and these batteries have been known to explode on rare occasions. This has been reported to be due to the mechanical mods used in some e-cigarette kits. These kinds of battery mods do not have inner circuitry to regulate the voltage and can possibly explode.
While these instances are rare, they can be justified as further proof that vaping tech is not as safe as people think. It’s up to the consumer to consider if he or she should return to smoking regular cigarettes or quit smoking or vaping altogether.