Electronic Cigarette: How they Work, Risks, and Research
E cigarettes are battery-powered devices that contain solutions that are vaporized for inhalation.
For the most part, these solutions also contain an amount of nicotine, allowing users to feel effects that are similar to those that come from tobacco smoke.
Electronic cigarettes also go by other names such as vapes and e-hookahs.
Although some vape manufacturing companies market their products as alternatives to traditional tobacco smoke, some FDA regulators put them in the tobacco products category.
For example, in the USA, it’s illegal to sell tobacco products to young people below 21 years old.
Despite this, youngsters have taken to vaping, seeing it as an exciting sport.
And they don’t want to give it up for anything.
Some vapers take to the internet to search for an e cigarette near me.
Here is a look at the mode of operation of electronic cigarettes, the research around the topic, and the potential risks involved in the usage of vapes.
How Electronic Cigarettes Work
A standard electronic cigarette, the vaping device contains the following parts: mouthpiece, battery, atomizer, vaping solution (e-liquid, and sometimes a sensor).
Mouthpiece
The mouthpiece of an e-cigarette is actually a cartridge that’s installed at one end of the tube, with a cup inside it.
This cup contains material which absorbs the e-liquid solution.
Atomizer
The main purpose of the atomizer is to heat the e-liquid solution and vaporize it for users to inhale.
Battery
It provides the energy that’s required to power the heating element of the atomizer.
E-liquid
It’s also known as the e-juice solution (a mixture of nicotine and other flavorings)
Sensor
The sensor switches on the heating element when a vaper sucks the mouthpiece.
This heating causes the vaporization of the e-juice so that users can inhale it together with the exciting flavors.
Risks Involved in Vaping
Since their introduction, e-cigarettes have been hyped as safer alternatives to traditional smoking of cigarettes.
However, there are still risks involved in their use.
This belief has convinced a good number of conventional tobacco smokers to ditch their cigarettes for vapes.
While this seems like good news, there is substantial evidence suggesting that electronic cigarettes also pose health hazards to people, particularly those who don’t consume traditional cigarettes.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has stated that the following categories of people are advised to stay away from vaping.
- Children & young adults
- Pregnant women
- Non-smokers
Why you should quit electronic cigarettes
A lot of e-cigarettes on the market contain nicotine. This substance is addictive and poisonous.
They are not pure. Vapes usually contain toxins, including carcinogens and even lead or other metals.
They can also make it harder for you to stop smoking.
Risk of brain damage.
Second-hand smoke can be injurious to passive smokers.
Electronic Cigarette: Research Work
The scientific community is still conducting research regarding the electronic cigarette to find out the level of harm that comes from the use of vapes.
In 2018, experimental studies on both humans and animals suggested that nitrosamine compounds in e-cigarettes can be very harmful to DNA.
The researchers also found out that e-cigarette “smoke” also destroys the lungs’ abilities to repair themselves.
In 2019, when researchers studied the effects of vaping on mice, they concluded that it increased their risks of getting heart disease.
At the same time, some researchers also think that vaping is may be more addictive than smoking of traditional cigarettes.
In summary, even as researchers continue to probe further into the subject, there is no probability that such a thing as a 100% safe vape product exists.
