Ban E-cigarettes? There Hoes American Health

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With the epidemic of cigarette use and cancer correlated to such use haunting American lives for years, nothing seems to be working. Wouldn’t it be beneficial if at least a healthier alternative for such a horrible addiction exists? Well, it does, introducing the E-cigarette. The e-cigarette produces a vapor form of nicotine, not from smoke which you would find in cigarettes (you know, nicotine, the reason why people are addicted to cigarettes in the first place?).

With e-cigarettes containing only a fraction of the harmful chemicals' cigarettes contain.

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You would think health officials would be all for such an alternative. After all, if you can't stop an epidemic completely, you might as well lessen the consequences arisen from it right? To my surprise, health officials like the FDA are against such a device. They fail to make a distinction between the health benefits of switching to e-cigarettes compared to sticking with regular cigarettes.

The FDA even argues that e-cigarettes use influencing the younger generation in a harmful way.

Because of this, the FDA is potentially raising prices of these devices even more and maybe even banning the device altogether. Many issues may arise if the FDA were to do so, such as: robbing chronically addicted smokers of a healthier alternative, creating more smokers, and strengthening big tobacco companies due to less competition. Health officials fail to realize that banning or raising the prices of e-cigarettes would be more damaging to the American society than if they were not doing anything at all.

To begin with, inhaling e-cigarettes are different than inhaling regular cigarettes in a way that’s of a more significant benefit to your health. E-cigarettes contain a liquid juice with just flavoring and nicotine, no tobacco at all. This factor is important to note because the harm from cigarettes is from the tar it produces from its combustion process. When a cigarette is lit up, it releases hundreds of harmful carcinogens in the form of smoke into the user's lungs that have been proven to be a detriment to human health in more ways than vapor from e-cigarettes which do not even contain the combustion process at all. No combustion process equals no tar, and according to Britain's Department of Health makes e-cigarettes 95% less harmful than regular cigarettes.

This is because e-cigarettes main addictive and active ingredient is nicotine and not tobacco. Critics may argue that nicotine is dangerous for the user's health and that fact alone should not allow e-cigarettes market to flourish. However, there is little evidence that even suggests nicotine is that harmful making it more like, let's say, caffeine. A drug used by millions every day. Both caffeine and nicotine are stimulants. They speed bodily functions, lead to temporarily heightened awareness, energy, and vitality in its users. Both are also addictive and can cause withdraws. More research has to be done on both as well. I am not advocating for nicotine use, I am only advocating for a healthier alternative to those already facing a problem with its addictive properties in relation to the tar from cigarettes.

E-cigarettes provide that option. Of course, nonsmokers or vapors should try to stay away from inhaling anything other than air, but the FDA must account the health of millions of already smokers in America. Oral cancer specialist Brad Rodu, an at the University of Louisville, states: “I enjoy coffee, and I am sure I could get caffeine if I smoked my coffee beans…however, I would be paying a much different price in overall health if I did.” In other words, when it comes to addictive substances like caffeine or nicotine, it isn’t the addictive substance that’s harmful; rather it’s how it’s delivered. As South African psychiatrist Mike Russell said about cigarettes: “You smoke for the nicotine, but you will die from the tar.” So again, there’s no tar in e-cigarettes.

John Britton, Epidemiologist at the University of Nottingham's Center for Alcohol and Tobacco studies, states that “E-cigarettes are the first safer alternative way to help smokers quit smoking, they have the potential to have half or more of smokers quitting cigarettes. I believe that cigarette smokers lives will be saved by this factor simply because there is no tar in these devices. A study from the University of Catania even concluded that human health is mostly unaffected by the usage of e-cigarettes. Of course, E-cigarettes are still relatively new, so some will say nothing is entirely safe in e-cigarettes as more research is needed. I agree, their use should somehow be moderated. But then again, is anything in excess safe? We must provide cigarette addicts with an innovation that stands a great chance of saving many lives. Banning e-cigarettes will only hurt this motive.

You would think that the FDA and other public health officials would do anything to switch the tobacco users to E-cigarettes. The opposite is true because they fail to make the distinction between the E-cigarettes and regular cigarettes, they equate the two products as equally as dangerous. As of August 2016, the FDA made a ruling that all e-cigarettes must go through an expensive evaluation process which could potentially end up costing E-cigarette companies millions. While bigger E-cigarette companies like the JUUL may be able to cover the costs, most e-cigarette companies will go out of business.

With less competition, surviving e-cigarettes companies will have the luxury to become more expensive, and the cheaper alternative for the nicotine-addicted users will be to go right back to cigarettes. Despite these public officials think they are just taking a “better safe than sorry” approach. To make matters even worse, a statement in the European Respiratory Journal made from representative Thomas Frankel, coauthor of the paper, states that “the flavors, product design, marketing, and safety increase the appeal of e-cigarettes to young people.” This statement comes after a finding in the journal of tobacco control found that teenagers who vaped were about four times more likely to try a cigarette than those who have not.

Ok, that may right. However, there's a difference between trying a cigarette and being addicted to them. According to a study directed by the Center for Substance Use Research concluded that 137 people discontinued their smoking habit for each one that started smoking cigarettes due to e-cigarette use. The study emphasised finding that almost two-thirds of people who started smoking e-cigarettes are no longer smoking. This is likely due to the younger generation having an alternative to deliver nicotine rather than sticking with the unhealthier method that is cigarettes. Taking away the existence of this alternative will more than likely raise the use of cigarettes since teens won't be able to get their “fix”.

Damaging the health of the upcoming generation. Not necessarily a win for the FDA. In a generation where teens will be teens, eating their tide pods, and swallowing hand sanitizer. Lack of flavoring may lead teens to find alternatives for this need, potentially opening a black-market E-cigarettes making a generation of brain addicted nicotine users commit a crime by getting their fix for nicotine. This would not only make it illegal, but will even leave kids with unnecessary charges since a real addict will go through any measure to get their fix.

The ban could even lead to fatalities as we have seen from countless people dying of laced, unregulated drugs from a recreational drug that shouldn’t have killed them in the first place. All of this happens because of no legal regulation. In addition to this fact, a study published by the International Journal of Environmental research found that over 4,500 smokers categorized switching flavors and having many options is vital to battling their addiction and helps many of them quit, and fewer options would increase their cravings. Out of the 10.8 million vapers in the united states in 2016, 9 million of them were former cigarette smokers. It should be clear that a significant relapse should be underway if e-cigarettes are discontinued.

As one may imagine, e-cigarettes are a real threat to big tobacco companies, and big tobacco companies destroy millions of lives every year. In 2012, Americans bought over 14 billion tobacco cigarettes in relation to 200,000 packs of e-cigarettes sold. In 2013 the sales of cigarettes decreased by 1 billion, and e-cigarette sales doubled to 400,000. A wells Fargo estimate predicts that tobacco cigarette sales will decline by 68% over the next 10 years while e-cigarette sales will increase 13x the rate of the sales currently.

That is unless the FDA shuts the e-cigarette business down completely. In 2017 e-cigarette use from high school students was 11.7 percent. A substantial decrease from its high point of 16 percent from 2015. Vaping is still less popular among teens than alcohol and marijuana. Did I forget to mention teen smoking fell to an all-time low not just among adults but teens as well at only 7.6 percent? Either way, teens will be teens and illegal activities among teens and have never just disappeared out of the blue, so, unfortunately, we have no reason to believe they ever fully will.

There will always be a replacement for the next unhealthy fad we can only honestly find ways to discourage teens from dangerous drugs and inhalants, so it might as well not be cigarettes. Because there's no proof e-cigarettes are healthy for you, it may be a bitter pill to swallow but the e-cigarette addiction has started and might as well not become a cigarette addiction which is way worse. It is no surprise that when the FDA announced to JUUL and six major e-cigarette companies announced that if these companies cannot find a way to not market to kids in 60 days, tobacco stocks shot up 7.7 percent following this announcement. We can already see the damage taking place before it could essentially happen.

The evidence is clear. When, or if they're discontinued the government is just giving power back to big tobacco companies. Unfortunately for the none smoker, Juul can serve as an experiment for not only the addicted smokers to quit, but for the none smoker to start. “Guy Bently” of the Washington Examiner states “Unfortunately, some kids experiment with adult products. This experiment cannot be eliminated, but it can be reduced and discouraged.

When many teens use alcohol, we do not respond by enforcing prohibition. Instead, parents and schools punish underage users, and retailers suffer severe penalties for not selling alcohol to minors.” The government needs to find another way to tackle this issue among our youth. Eliminating the only industry breaking down cigarettes faster than every government action against the epidemic is a threat to helping millions of adult smokers quit just because of minor's irresponsibility is a deadly misunderstanding. Literally.