Finally, an alternative to cigarettes! No more tobacco and secondhand smoke! A simple way to quit smoking! However, vapes and e-cigarettes are a lot more complicated than this and not as healthy as one may think.

Modern vapes and e-cigarettes were invented in the 2000s by a Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik, but they only became popular in the early 2010s. Use of vapes and e-cigarettes has increased at alarming rates among youth. In fact, according to the CDC, one in four teens are vaping. Traditional cigarette use has decreased among high school students, only to be replaced with vaping. 3 million of the 4.7 million middle and high school students that smoked cigarettes are now using e-cigarettes. This alarming trend appeared when vaping was mostly unregulated, and it wasn’t until May 2016 that the Food and Drug Administration issued new regulations in order to halt the sale of these products to Americans under 18 years of age. However, the sale of these products are not regulated over the internet, making it extremely effortless for minors to get their hands on them.

Regardless of these regulations, e-cigarettes and vape products are being vigorously marketed towards adolescents with fun and candy-like flavors. With fun flavors like “banana,” “blueberry,” “citrus,” and “strawberry,” these vape juices become very appealing to the youth. As a matter of fact, there are 500 brands and over 7000 fun flavors on the market.

E-cigarettes and vapes have been advertised as the perfect alternatives to cigarettes. Vape juice or the liquid additive to e-cigarettes have much less chemicals than a regular cigarette does. Sidestream smoke from a vape or e-cigarette is much less toxic than secondhand smoke from a cigarette.

However, e-cigarette aerosol contain harmful constituents like nicotine, a highly addictive substance, which is known to harm brain development and decrease concentration. In addition, manufacturers don’t have to disclose e-cigarette ingredients, so many users have no clue about what they’re truly smoking. These unregulated cartridges can be detrimental to one’s health. Apart from the physical and mental effects from the use of these products, e-cigarette and vape batteries have been known to explode and malfunction. This can be dangerous and cause serious burns.

To prevent the use of e-cigarettes and vapes in adolescents, schools, communities, and families must keep an open conversation going about these addictive products. Rather than talking down to adolescents, listen to them. Teenagers are much more open to these conversations when they are being listened to as well.