Everywhere I go, I see someone with an electronic cigarette.  Whether I’m outside the library, or at a party, someone always seems to be smoking an electronic cigarette.  Oftentimes, I observe (young) kids blowing out what appears to be a ground-level-cloud, out of their mouths.  My original perception of e-cigarettes was positive, they’re supposed to help people quit nicotine, right?  Despite contrary input from peers, friends, I was reluctant to believe that their is anything beneficial from exhaling large volumes of smoke.  Clueless about the logistics surrounding electronic cigarettes, I began to investigate.

First, I questioned the target audience.  I am from New York City , where you (now) have to be 21 or older in order to purchase cigarettes.  Here in Pennsylvania, I’ve seen kids as young as 15 smoking electronic cigarettes.The University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences explained such discrepancy through marketing loop holes.  Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is struggling to regulate electronic cigarettes.  Until they are regulated, electronic cigarettes are not subject to regulation laws such as: age limits on sale, taxation, and other labeling requirements.  The lack of age requirements enable extremely young children to purchase these devices, and share with their friends.  Additionally, electronic cigarette companies have created a multitude of flavors, which works to attract young children who often find themselves in a vulnerable, experimental stage in life.  Lastly, these devices are allowed to be advertised on television, similar to regular cigarettes forty years ago.  This loophole obviously works to attract a younger audience, through the promotion of flavors, appearance, etc.

Look at the marketing strategy used by this company. They are allowed to ruthlessly promote unhealthy products in 2015. What separates these adds from the Camel cigarettes adds fifty years ago?

Regardless of their increase in popularity, are electronic cigarettes helping adolescents quit smoking normal cigarettes?  The study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Science proves the answer is no, in fact, they are increasing the amount of children smoking nicotine.  Over a one year period, 700 adolescents’ (ages of 16-26) revealed their smoking habbits.  38% of all electronic cigarette users admitted to  regularly smoking non-electronic cigarettes, whereas merely 10% of non-electronic cigarette users admitted to smoking non-electronic cigarettes.  These statistics were consistent among a variety of categories including: race, socioeconomic status, occupation.  Such data proves that the nicotine delivered through electronic cigarettes, over time, encourages a tolerance.  Furthermore, children are increasingly transitioning from electronic cigarettes to regular cigarettes, in search of a higher nicotine dose.  The  argument that people lower their nicotine dosage (within their electronic cigarette) in order to help quit cigarettes is completely refuted by these statistics. Clearly, electronic cigarettes increase your nicotine tolerance, until adolescents graduate to more harmful cigarettes.

While we have learned about electronic cigarettes counterproductive results, I continued to wonder how unhealthy they are compared to regular cigarettes.  In search of an answer, the American Physiological Society (APS) exposed mice and human cells to cigarette smoke, and electronic cigarette smoke(with, and without, nicotine).  Nicotine in both electronic and regular cigarettes proved extremely harmful; its’ pulmonary effects resulted in the loss of lung function, produced acute lung inflammation, and decreased endothelial cells within lungs.  Given electronic cigarettes barred equally destructive results, how are they a better alternative?  Additionally, nicotine-free electronic cigarette solutions contained acrolein, which damages the lungs by attacking essential cells such as endothelial cells.  With or without nicotine, electronic cigarettes find themselves in a web of negative health effects.