Follow
Vaping is as dangerous as smoking, and an individual must be 21 to test such products.
Once upon a time an e-cigarette exploded in a minor’s hands, leaving him with possible permanent damage to his hands, face, and eyes. There are so many things wrong with this statement. First of all, why was a minor testing out e-cigarettes? Second, are all electronic cigarettes capable of such destructive behavior? Third, why are there so many youth-appealing flavors for e-cigarettes?
Let’s start from the beginning. An e-cigarette exploded in a minor’s hands. Why was an underage child testing out electronic cigarettes in a state where vaping is allowed only for people aged 21 and higher?
Nobody seems to be able to answer this question. Leor Domatov, the fourteenth years old that will have permanent scars reminding him of the dangers of smoking was accompanied by his friends when he decided to check out the offer of the local vaping shop.
In New York, the legal age of smoking and vaping is 21. There are no circumstances in which the seller could be fooled that the 14 years old boy was of legal age, so the incident shouldn’t have happened in the first place. But it did, mostly because the law is considered “more like guidelines” by most tobacco and tobacco-related products sellers.
The boy and his friends are, indeed, guilty of engaging in illegal activity, but the salesperson should have demonstrated more logic than the adolescents. If he or she was able to sell e-cigarettes, then he or she should have thought about the consequences of giving a minor a strictly forbidden tool.
And since we are on the subject, maybe it’s not just the store clerk’s fault. There are hundreds of e-cigarette flavors out there that seem to be made especially for children. Popcorn, bubble-gum, cereal, honey-cereal, cocoa-cereal, toffee, caramel, marshmallows, and so on, are among the most popular and most advertised e-cigarette flavors.
Maybe there are some adults that prefer to inhale bubble gum flavored nicotine, but they can’t represent the majority of smokers. Because if that was true, then cookie companies should stop advertising their products to children and re-focus their campaign on adults with childhood cravings.
Furthermore, let’s say that those flavors are, indeed, designed to satisfy all of the odd cravings of a fully-functioning vaping adult. But how could people continue to trust the efficiency of the nicotine-delivering devices when an e-cigarette exploded in a minor’s hands, leaving him with possible permanent damage to his hands, face, and eyes?
From what the authorities are saying, the explosion took place when the salesperson connected the wrong device to the bad battery. That sounds like a mistake any newbie can do, so the logical conclusion would be that this kind of accidents are waiting to happen at any vaping store.
The incident in question took place in New York at the Plaza Vapes store in the Kings Plaza Mall in Brooklyn.
Image source: Flickr
