Near the end of August, the United States was hit with the first death reportedly linked to vaping. Within two weeks, the sixth death related to vaping was announced.Hundreds of illnesses are also reportedly linked to the use of the pocket-sized substitutes for cigarettes.
“People said we needed to ban smoking before this vaping, but the smoking didn’t kill people within a couple of months,” Walter Johnson’s AP Chemistry teacher Stephanie Deonarain said.
Around the same time the FDA announced “a series of critical and historic” actions against the retailers and manufacturers of vaping products targeting teenagers. This is alongside 12 warning letters already issued to retailers selling “misleadingly labeled” or “advertised e-liquids resembling kid-friendly food products such as candy or cookies.” In 2018, more than 3.6 million middle and high school students said they had used a vaping product, or e-cigarettes.
“We don’t actually know what is’s in that fluid a lot of times, we know what they claim, but we have no guarantee,” Deonarain said.
By far the largest ingredient researchers are concerned with is THC, the primary source of the high from marijuana. Data collected by the CDC showed more than 77percent of the patients with lung illnesses associated with vaping had THC in their product. Only 16 percent claimed not to have THC in their product. Although there is a connection with the THC content, the CDC is still not sure about what exactly the illness is.
Although the effects of vaping are still uncertain, there is a major concern over the levels of nicotine in vaping products. The content in these products can reach five percent, as compared to cigarettes which are typically 1.7 percent nicotine. This causes them to be highly addictive, especially to the teenage brain which is highly susceptible to addiction.
Among the less widely known ingredients in vaping products, there are some shared with antifreeze, nail polish remover and embalming fluid.
Although the vaping has shown to cause serious injury very quickly, there are still long term effects of vaping and smoking products on the human body.
“It’s arteries, and the damages to the kidneys, and liver, and heart… that kills first. The vaping doesn’t take away that problem. The same stuff is going into your system, along with a whole bunch of other stuff that’s not supposed to be in your lungs,” Deonarain said.
Article by Ryan Leal of Walter Johnson High School
Graphic by Angelina Guhl of Richard Montgomery High School