The New Vape Life: Safer Than Smoking?

Smoking tobacco has been a huge part of American culture ever since the founding of the British colonies in the 1600s. According to the CDC, in 2015, 15.1% of American adults smoke. This rate is down from 20.9% in 2005. The numbers continue to drop as young Americans, in particular, become more informed about the dangers of smoking such as tar, combusted chemicals, etc. People who smoke often have black lungs, enlarged hearts, browning teeth, and poor skin as a result of smoking’s effects. But that is the point of vaping: the harmful parts of smoking are mitigated while still administering the same amount of nicotine. The nicotine itself is addictive, but alone does not cause many health problems. It is like caffeine without the energy boost. To this end, many former smokers have switched to vaping instead as a healthier alternative to smoking while still getting nicotine.Vaping is the process through which a water based, usually flavored, substance is converted to a gas and then inhaled. This process does not involve combustion and therefore has a lot less bad health effects than smoking. Vaping has become very trendy with sales reaching 1 billion dollars in 2015. Especially in teens, the thrill of hitting at vape is seen as cool and trendy, even rebellious. However, the problem is that we do not know the adverse health effects associated with vaping. There is very little medical testing or clinical trials regarding vaping. Nevertheless, the activity remains prevalent in modern society. This trend of widespread use before knowing health effects has a dangerous history. Once people thought it was OK to take X-Rays of pregnant mothers. Only after discovering high levels of leukemia among these mothers’ kids then did we learn it was bad. Cocaine was once used as an everyday medicine. Smoking was even thought to be OK at one point in time. These trends unequivocally prove that although on the surface it may seem harmless, true harm can only be seen until it is too late. It is the duty of a government to protect its people. It needs to protect citizens, especially youth. Before picking up that vape, the government must make sure at the very least that people are informed about potential risks involved. I remain optimistic that vaping will have a positive effect on America. The vape industry brings in lots of jobs and money to the economy. The amount of tobacco smokers will continue to drop. However, it is also important to remember that no activity is without risks and the riskiest activities are those where the risks are not even known. The US Government and CDC should get ahead of potential risks and make sure the public knows exactly what the use of vape entails in terms of health effects.