Electronic, or e-cigarettes, have been gaining popularity among high school and college students as a safer way for smokers to get their nicotine fix. However, recent studies suggest they may be harmful to your health.
Marketing campaigns sometimes claim that e-cigarettes are healthier, but studies, like one from the University of Athens, Greece, last year, claim e-cigarettes can damage the lungs. Currently, there is not a consensus on how severe health problems are, but medical professionals and scientists “generally agree” they are safer than traditional cigarettes, according to Medical News Today.
The World Health Organization said, as of July 2013, said there is “insufficient” evidence to assess the harm of e-cigarettes.
“We really don’t know a whole lot about [the effects of e-cigarettes], [because] there has not been a whole lot of research that’s been done on them,” said Cameron Austin, assistant director of health promotion and substance abuse and prevention at the N.C. State Student Health Center.
According to a recent article in The New York Daily, the use of e-cigarettes among youth, between sixth and 12th grade, has also increased dramatically in the past year. So far, 20 states have passed laws banning e-cigarettes from being sold to minors. However, the Food and Drug Administration have yet to regulate this potentially harmful product.
As for reasons for the increase among college students, a study published in the Journal of American College Health earlier this year suggests that college students are using e-cigarettes more because they are innovative, socially acceptable and acceptable to use in public.
The fluid in e-cigarette cartridges that contains the nicotine may also contain toxic chemicals, according to The New York Daily article.
Smoke Rings, a shop on Hillsborough Street, recently opened an e-cigarette bar, perhaps to take advantage of the rising trend. Seeing an e-cigarette on and near campus is still fairly uncommon, however, and on two repeat trips the colorful, retro-style bar was pretty sparse.
Kimberly Miller, a senior in psychology and criminology, said that she used to own an e-cigarette to curb her addiction to cigarettes.
“I bought an e-cigarette because it doesn’t have all the tar and stuff in it, but it still has the nicotine, so I felt like it would be a good way for me to get rid of my nicotine addiction while weaning myself off of cigarettes,” Miller said.
Unfortunately, the e-cigarette did not prove effective in Miller’s case. After a brief period of use, she said she decided to kick the habit, saying that her lungs didn’t feel quite right when she was smoking it.
“I’ve heard that e-cigarettes can give you bronchitis because it’s water vapor and so it gets water into your lungs and can cause an infection,” Miller said.
Evan Wetherington a junior in computer engineering, said he started smoking e-cigarettes because it was accessible and tasted good.
“[E-cigarettes] are cleaner, cheaper, more healthy and taste better than regular cigarettes, and they’re more convenient,” Wetherington said. “All the studies I’ve seen are still undecided on how bad it is for you, but from what I’ve seen it feels cleaner than a regular cigarette and everything seems better about it.”
Because they are a product that is still mainly sold online, an e-cigarette can be purchased by just about anyone with internet access after only a couple of clicks confirming age. Without proper regulation by the FDA, it’s pretty hard to keep these devices out of the hands of minors.
Until more information is available on this product, there’s not much that can be done.
“There’s so much we don’t know about them: Are they safe? Are they not safe? Are some safer than others? Will it be something for the future that could be of benefit if we know what’s in it and know that perhaps it’s safe?” Austin said.
