Vaping or Smoking: Where are Myths and Reality?
Vaping or Smoking: Where are Myths and Reality?
It’s no longer a secret that smoking has made an indelible mark in the human history. Initially, smoking was believed to be a medical procedure. This made tobacco very popular in the 16th century.
In the 20th century, the automatic cigarettes production equipment was invented. This led to a significant increase in smoking popularity. At around this time, millions of individuals across the world became tobacco addicts. This was followed by the establishment of a link between smoking and lung cancer. Anti-tobacco campaigns and anti-smoking drugs appeared in the 1970s. Chewing gums, patches, inhalers and troches were some of the products that were aimed at helping people quit smoking.
Vaping Daily believes that it is important consumers are informed about what they are putting into their body before making the decision to smoke or vape.
Currently, vaping or electronic cigarettes are at the top of the game. These imitate the feeling of traditional smoking. They are trendy and considered less harmful than traditional tobacco. New vape shops are opening nonstop. Vaping is gaining an increasing popularly especially among the teens.
But, this trend is surrounded by several concerns. Many people don’t know much about the long-term effects of vaping. The limited information that is available about the safety of vaping has led to several myths about it. Some people are not sure whether vaping is better than smoking.
Here are some of the myths and the reality that you should know when deciding whether to vape or smoke:
Vaping and Smoking Are the Same
This is a myth. When you vape or use an e-cigarette, you inhale the vapor. But when you smoke, you inhale smoke. When vaping, a person inhales and exhales the vapor that is produced when e-liquid is heated. It’s possible to regulate the content of e-liquid so that you don’t inhale the toxic substances that are found in the traditional cigarettes.
E-juice can be tobacco-free or have low nicotine content. According to a report by The Guardian, vaping is also causing harm to the human health. However, it is less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
Food and Drug Administration Does Not Regulate Vapes
This is a myth. Some people argue that vaping is not safe because the FDA does not regulate vapes. While this was the case some years back, the FDA is now regulating these products. In fact, it has been working over the years to enhance their regulation level.
According to the FDA website, the authority regulates the import, manufacture, labeling, packaging, promotion, advertising, distribution, and sale of the electronic nicotine delivery systems including parts and components of ENDS with an exclusion of accessories. The website notes further that the regulation includes cartridges, e-liquids, and some batteries.
Nobody Knows the Content of E-liquids
A lot has been said about the content of vape juices. For instance, some people say that antifreeze is among the ingredients of e-juices. This is a myth.
E-liquids have propylene glycol. This is an ingredient of antifreeze. However, it is just added to make swallowing antifreeze safer. Actually, antifreeze uses propylene glycol to get the non-toxic label. Nevertheless, inhaling propylene glycol in a vapor form is safe. That’s why it is used in asthma inhalers.
Another myth is that nobody knows what is in e-juices. But, if you ask any employee or owner of a vape shop, they will tell you the ingredients of the products that they have in their shop. Therefore, to deal with concerns that relate to the content of e-juices, ask the seller or online retailer before you purchase them. A good vape shop retailer or owner will explain the purpose of the ingredients of the e-juices that they have in their stores to you.
Vapes are Addictive than the Traditional Cigarettes
It’s clear that vaping and smoking are different. When compared to traditional smoking, vaping is a less effective method of delivering nicotine into the body even when high-nicotine e-liquid is chosen.
What’s more, you can choose the nicotine amount in your e-juice. That means you can start off high then lower the nicotine amount in your e-juice slowly until you wean yourself off the substance altogether. Thus, you don’t have to quit at once and suffer the withdrawal symptoms. Vaping enables you to enjoy flavored vapor as you stopped smoking.
This is something that you won’t get with traditional smoking. Although you can reduce the number of cigarettes that you smoke every day, the nicotine level in every piece remains the same.
Vaping Causes Popcorn Lung
This is a myth. Generally, it depends on the context. Popcorn Lung is formally called bronchiolitis obliterans. It is an obstructive respiratory disorder that gets its informal name from the instances where popcorn factory employees were exposed to strong diacetyl levels regularly and for a long time. Diacetyl is also found in some e-liquids where it serves as the flavoring agent. However, most producers turned to alternative agents in response to this myth.
The reality is that individuals that contracted bronchiolitis obliterans were exposed to very high concentrations of diacetyl in its airborne form over a long time. Generally, this part is left out in most cases when the condition is mentioned. The approach is used to scare people about vaping like mentioned in this NBC News article.
Vaping is the Gateway to Traditional Smoking
There is no doubt that the popularity of vaping has skyrocketed especially among teenagers over the years. Some have even argued that vaping is the gateway to traditional tobacco smoking. This has prompted news outlets to publish stories that are in line with the narrative. However, some news outlets like the New York Times have debunked this myth.
This news outlet reported that the NASM panel established that vaping has the potential to prompt teenagers to try traditional smoking and risk addiction. However, it did not find a significant link between long-term smoking an e-cigarette. In fact, the outlet reports that the panel could not determine whether teenagers were trying out cigarettes or turning into habitual smoking.
These are some of the myths that can cloud your view of vaping. But, it’s important to note that most studies show that vaping is less harmful than conventional smoking.
