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Vaping Can Have Yet Unknown Side Effects

June 25, 2016 By Martha Goodwin 2 Comments

While still widely unregulated, e-cigarettes have gained a certain popularity among smokers and non-smokers. The greatest presumed advantage in favor of vaping is that it won’t cause as much damage to your health as smoking traditional cigarettes would.

However, a new study featured in the American Journal of Physiology has compared the gene-expression profiles of non-smokers, vapers, and smokers, and found that the nasal mucosa of e-cigarette users had undergone immune-related gene expression similar to that present in smokers.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, noted that the findings do not imply that vaping is as damaging to one’s health as smoking would. Instead, the team wants to highlight that using e-cigarettes could have some yet unknown side effects.

Study author Ilona Jaspers, Ph.D., was quoted saying that “Despite the common perception that vaping e-cigarettes is a safe alternative to cigarettes, the data shown here demonstrate the need for further studies related to changes in respiratory immune health induced by vaping e-cigarettes.”

The gene expression of those who used e-cigarettes seemed to have been more severely altered than that of cigarette smokers. In addition, health problems were observed even in otherwise healthy participants.

According to the study, secondhand smoke exposure is a real threat, leading to increased susceptibility to microbial infections. It’s also possible to develop life-threatening infections, as smoking is associated with suppressed recruitment and activation of innate immune cells.

As a result, secondhand smoking could block these defense mechanisms, leaving the body vulnerable in the face of infections and various cancers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that no state in the Southeast has a comprehensive smoke-free law. More than a decade ago, the Surgeon General established that no level of secondhand smoke exposure is risk-free.

In light of these findings, concerned authorities had begun a lengthy process of protecting Americans from this plague, but there are still millions of citizens (especially in the Southeast) who are still exposed and unprotected from this preventable health hazard.

Smoke-free laws would considerably improve indoor air quality, prevent young people from adopting this damaging habit, help smokers quit, and reduce heart attack hospitalizations among non-smokers.
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Teenagers who Smoke E-Cigarettes are Highly Likely to Smoke Tobacco

January 26, 2016 By Barbara Mast 2 Comments

The teenagers who smoke e-cigarettes are very likely to turn to the tobacco ones.

A study shows that the teenagers who smoke e-cigarettes are highly likely to smoke tobacco in the future. Apparently, the teens who smoke e-cigarettes are three times more likely to start smoking tobacco, one year after they started smoking e-cigarettes. The teenagers who have never tried e-cigarettes were less likely to start smoking.

Also, even though the developers of the e-cigarettes promote them as a way to stop smoking tobacco, the researchers said that there is no evidence that the e-cigarettes can cure that habit. Among the teenagers involved in the study, the ones who smoked e-cigarettes didn’t see a major decrease in their tobacco consume in the course of an year. The researchers want to warn the teens and their parents about the dangers of the e-cigarettes, as they are a factor that can push teens into tobacco smoking.

The team of researchers from the Hawaii University situated in Honolulu decide to see which exactly is the connection between the e-cigarettes and the tobacco ones. For their research, they surveyed more than 2,300 teenagers from six different high school situated in the area. The students involved were mainly in the 9^th and 10^th grade. They were asked about their smoking habits, parental support and their degree of rebelliousness.

After the teenagers were surveyed by the team, the researchers left and returned one year later to see how the situations have changed. The students who smoked tobacco the first time counted for 15%, which increased to 21% a year later. Also, the number of students who smoked e-cigarettes increased from 31% to 38%. After the researchers analyzed the results and the variables, they discovered that the probability of smoking tobacco increased with 14% for the teens who previously smoked e-cigarettes. The teens who have never smoked e-cigarettes were only 5% likely to try them. 68% of the survey participants revealed that e-cigarettes were healthier than the tobacco ones.

The factors that influenced the smoking were also the gender, the parental education, the parental support, the age, the ethnicity and the degree of rebelliousness. Native Hawaiians and Caucasians were more likely to smoke than the Asian Americans. The researchers said that the teens are more likely to turn to tobacco cigarettes, because the e-cigarettes expose them to low levels of nicotine and then they want to feel a bigger nicotine kick so they turn to tobacco.

The study which revealed that the teenagers who smoke e-cigarettes are highly likely to smoke tobacco was published in Tobacco Control, on Monday.

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E-Cigarettes Don’t Help People Quit Smoking

January 20, 2016 By David Kellen 1 Comment

Many smokers who try to quit, use the e-cigarettes as a way of quitting but apparently that is not the best method.

A new research done by UCSF shows that e-cigarettes don’t help people quit smoking. In fact, the study showed that they are more likely to continue smoking than the people who do not use e-cigarettes at all.

For the study, data was collected from 38 studies conducted worldwide. The persons who choose to smoke e-cigarettes decrease their chances of quitting smoking with 28%. According to one of the researchers, Stanton Glantz, the findings of the study show an irony, as the people who use the e-cigarettes use them because they are trying to quit smoking. He also said that even though the e-cigarettes are less dangerous than those based on nicotine, the main issue is that the people who smoke e-cigarettes also smoke normal cigarettes.

The Preventive Services Task Force of the United States stated last year that the vaping pens also known as e-cigarettes had no effect for the people who tried to quit smoking and therefore they didn’t recommend them. The people who manufacture these cigarettes often promote them as a way to smoke in the places where the nicotine is prohibited. This is highly misleading though, as where the smoking is banned, almost always that includes the e-cigarettes as well. In the United States, more than 430 cities ban the smoking of nicotine and of e-cigarettes as well.

The conclusion of the study has already raised many controversies, with the former director of the Action on Smoking and Health in the United Kingdom, questioning the methodology used for the study. He said that the results of the study are not accurate, since the study only synthesized other studies. The director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit, Peter Hajek, agreed and said that the review could be misleading. Hajek also said that the medication used when people try to quit smoking could be considered inefficient as well, by the researchers of the study, which is not at all true. Other people who did not agree with the results of the study and were very vocal about it were Professor Robert West from the University College London and Professor Ann McNeill. McNeill, who is a tobacco addiction professor said that the results are not scientific and that they should not be considered accurate.

The study’s findings that the e-cigarettes don’t help people quit smoking were published in in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal.

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The Use of E-cigarettes for Vaping Medical Marijuana in Ontario

November 29, 2015 By Grant Hamersma Leave a Comment

One day after allowing the use of e-cigarettes for vaping medical marijuana in Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, the Canadian Premier is reconsidering the decision.

According to her press statement, the government is bound to go back on the decision, taking the regulation ‘back to the drawing board’. Vaping medical marijuana will be restricted so as the places that don’t allow e-cigarettes are not subject to allowing medical marijuana vaping.

The Associate Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Dipika Damerla also announced that one day after the decision to allow vaping medical marijuana, Ontario’s policy is bound for reconsideration. The use of e-cigarettes for vaping medical marijuana in Ontario was meant for the 23,000 patients in Canada who are registered for medical marijuana use. The Ontario province would have been lifting restrictions on e-cigarettes starting next year.

While the use of e-cigarettes is banned in places and areas where smoking is also not permitted, the new policy would have allowed their use just for vaping medical marijuana. However, that entails the use of medical marijuana in restaurants, in the office or in parks, regardless of private interests and regulations.

However, with the revision of the policy in sight, business owners such as those owning cafes or restaurants or employers still have the last word on allowing or prohibiting vaping medical marijuana from the office or the premises of a business. It might come as a blow for those who are severely impaired by pain or other conditions and who need their treatment regularly. Yet, vaping medical marijuana is still perceived as an activity that should be confined to the privacy of one’s home.

Dipika Damerla also noted that in revisiting the exemption policy, all comments received from communities, business owners, employers and the media will be taken into consideration and influence the final decision.

Premier Wynne stated in front of the Ontario Liberal Provincial Council that speaking for herself she would find it disturbing if someone vaped medical marijuana in a theater next to her. While she remains sympathetic towards those in need, she asks that understanding of the public perception is also taken into account.

Photo Credits: Flickr

The AAP Asks for Tougher E-Cigarette Regulations

October 27, 2015 By Barbara Mast 1 Comment

The American Academy of Pediatrics – the AAP asks for tougher e-cigarette regulations, with a new set of recommendations recently published.

Both tobacco products and e-cigarettes are considered a threat to the health of children and teenagers. While there are many detractors to the idea that e-cigarettes are harmful, there is a growing body of literature that deals with their effects on health, as well as their use as gateways to using tobacco products.

E-cigarettes are advertised as smoking cessation products. However, the content of the liquids used for vaping includes not only nicotine (in some cases), but also a long list of additives and pyrazines. Many are indeed approved by the FDA. However, these additives and pyrazines are approved for different uses. Given the novelty of e-cigarettes, there is little research that could pinpoint the effects that the additives and pyrazines may have on one’s health when burned or inhaled as hot vapor.

Against this background, the AAP asks for tougher e-cigarette regulations, particularly with view to teenagers. To this extent, increasing the legal age for purchasing e-cigarettes and tobacco products to 21 is one of the recommendations.

In addition, the three policy statements issued on Monday add recommendations on regulation, reducing dependence on and exposure to nicotine and tobacco, family counseling and other areas. The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for a synergistic approach to cut tobacco and e-cigarette use with teenagers. Child exposure to e-cigarette liquid and vapors, as well as tobacco smoke is also of concern.

Increasing the age restriction won’t do much by itself. Both tobacco products and e-cigarettes need to be addressed in the same manner. Taxes must reach similar levels. Advertising these products to youth should be banned. With e-cigarettes, a number of vaping liquids are labeled with names such as Gummy Bear, Bubble Gum, Cotton Candy, Vanilla Candy, etc. Reminding of the flavoring additives included in the liquid mix, they target teenagers who are rapidly attracted to these sweet-sounding names.

Children may be particularly attracted by the scent of e-cigarette liquid. In 2014, over 3,000 cases of ingestion of such sweet-scented liquids were reported. The effects of nicotine on children, second hand smokers and smokers as well are already detailed in a number of medical studies.

According to one of the statements of the American Academy of Pediatrics:

“Tobacco use continues to be a major health threat to children, adolescents and adults. The developing brains of children and teens are particularly vulnerable to nicotine, which is why the growing popularity of e-cigarettes among adolescents is so alarming and dangerous to their long-term health”.

Further information on how e-cigarettes may act as gateways to using tobacco products and their popularity with U.S. teenagers may be found with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as with the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Photo Credits: Flickr

Teens using E-cigarettes: More likely to smoke real cigarettes?

July 27, 2015 By Adam Lynch 1 Comment

A brand new developed study shows that teenagers who are using e-cigarettes are prone to use tobacco cigarettes.

Researchers found out that about 10 percent of teenagers would engage in using personal vaporizers, whereas they would be tempted to try out real cigarettes as well.

Jessica Barrington-Trimis, the lead author of the study, reported that e-cigarettes contain nicotine, fact which would create a psychologically-induced dependency on nicotine, and real cigarette use.

Barrington-Trimis said that e-cigarettes are becoming normalized, as a result of factors which would indicate a positive social environment.

The study was conducted upon 11^th and 12^th graders from Southern California, and around 2.000 students were involved. The researchers discovered that these students also have an e-cigarette user either at home or among their friends.

Barrington-Trimis’s findings, detailed in the journal Pediatrics, show that a teenager whose close friends would be e-cigarette users, would also be an e-cigarette user themselves. Also, the scientists found out that the teens who would use e-cigarettes, would also have an e-smoker in the family or amongst their friends.

So, unlike high-school students who wouldn’t smoke at all, 10 percent of teenagers who would use electronic cigarettes would be more prone to use real cigarettes.

Those who were submitted to the studies said that they didn’t believe that e-cigarettes were harmful, or that they would pose a health risk whatsoever.

A recent study also showed the fact that, during 2011-2014, e-cigarettes were becoming popular amongst adult and young Americans, especially among high-school students.

Nevertheless, that particular study also showed that those teenagers who would smoke e-cigarettes, would not be inclined nor would they have a tendency to smoke real cigarettes. Researchers said that 40 percent of the students wouldn’t even intend to try real cigarettes anyhow.

However, many of the teens who wouldn’t start smoking, would still be exposed to high-levels of nicotine, throughout e-cigarettes. According to Vaughan Rees, professor at the Center for Global Tobacco Control, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, tobacco-control extents failed and the kids would still be curious about e-smoking.

Even though the sale of e-cigarettes to minors is illegal, the FBA cannot control them, as they aren’t marketed as devices from smoking discontinuance.

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