There’s no doubt that electronic cigarettes are popular nowadays, but people who use them are concerned whether they are safe or not, so we have made our list to raise awareness of 6 reasons why electronic cigarettes are harmful. If you’re a smoker, you already know which are 11 top selling cigarettes in the world but you have also probably wondered are e-cigarettes safer than regular cigarettes.
On October 27th, 21-year-old Evan Spahlinger was found on the floor after his electronic cigarette blew up in his face and he is now in very critical condition. Doctors had to place him in a coma to reduce pain, because his face and neck were burned. People are now aware that this can easily happen to them and they want to know all about safety and health issues of e-cigarettes.
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Few days we could also read in the newspapers about 33-year-old Richard Country who was smoking his electronic cigarette and suddenly stopped breathing. He was immediately sent to the hospital. Doctors realized that e-cigarette stopped turning liquid into vapor during Richard’s smoking. Richard swallowed the liquid which caused his cough, heavy breathing and in his own words “It felt like I’d got a trapped nerve in my shoulder!”
This is not a rare example of electronic cigarette explosion or not turning liquid into vapor, so that’s why safety is also among 6 Reasons Why Electronic Cigarettes Are Harmful:
6. Safety (1.)
U.S. Fire Administration has stated that the fires caused by explosions of e-cigarettes are actually rare, but in the last five years 25 incidents were reported. This includes only the incidents that were reported to the media or fire department. The explosion usually happens when the battery is charging and U.S. Fire Administration warn people to charge the batteries carefully and not to use power sources which are not approved by the manufacturer! Unfortunately, there are no regulations of e-cigarettes safety and people think that FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) should regulate e-cigarettes. FDA regulated only electronic cigarettes marketed as therapeutic.
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5. Safety (2.)
There were 215 calls to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention related to electronic cigarettes poisonings. So, are e-cigarettes toxic? It is not easy to answer this question. We know though that children (from 1 to 5 years old) poisoning was caused by inhaling the liquid from the cigarette. That’s why the parents were accused of misuse of the product and keeping away e-cigarettes from children is their responsibility. We know that some of them have candy flavoring, so it’s not surprising that children find them interesting! E-cigarettes don’t have to be childproof, but that it something that should be regulated by the FDA.
4. Side Effects
Speaking of FDA, they have proposed regulations for electronic cigarettes on April 14th 2014. Any user of electronic cigarettes can voluntary report side effects. People call to report hypotension, seizure, disorientation, pneumonia, etc., but it is not clear if this is caused by e-cigarettes or by some previous medical condition.
3. Diacetyl: is it hazardous?
Diacetyl is declared safe by the Food and Drug Administration, but only as a substance. What about vaporing of this substance? Vapors love its taste, but when they became aware of the health risk this substance carries five years ago, many manufacturers of e-cigarettes had to remove diacetyl from the liquids. If you are worried about diacetyl in e-cigarettes, you should buy diacetyl-free liquids or just smoke unflavored liquids.
2. Do e-cigarettes help you quit smoking?
If you started smoking e-cigarettes to quit smoking regular cigarettes, we have to disappoint you; there is no real evidence that you will! What health experts have to say? Opinions are mixed regarding this current topic. People usually start smoking electronic cigarettes because they want to quit smoking “real cigarettes”. If you are trying to quit smoking, you have probably bought nicotine-free e-cigarette at one point. But then you have realized that it is pointless and it doesn’t help you because they don’t contain nicotine! E-cigarettes with nicotine maybe have less of other harmful substances, but, let’s face it, they still have nicotine! They were never approved as a regular way to quit smoking by the FDA.
1. Nicotine is harmful!
If you smoke electronic cigarettes because you think it’s safer, we have to warn you that nicotine is highly addictive harmful substance, whether it comes from the cigarette you smoke or the battery-operated one. That’s why it made to the top of our list of 6 reasons why electronic cigarettes are harmful. If you don’t smoke, don’t smoke e-cigarettes either. I think that in the near future these cigarettes are going to outsell regular cigarettes, but that doesn’t make them less harmful, does it?
