Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Nicotine and Traditional Cigarettes

Satisfactory Essays
676 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Nicotine and Traditional Cigarettes
Name:_________________ Date:_____________
Period:___

Electronic Cigarettes Growing in Popularity with Teens

Submitted by, Ahkim Santana

Electronic cigarette use by teenagers has doubled since 2011. Health experts say the devices are being marketed to youths, putting them at risk for addiction to nicotine and regular cigarettes. One out of 10 American high school students used electronic cigarettes in 2012, along with nearly 3% of middle school students, according to a new federal report. That's about double the rate of electronic cigarette use in 2011 and translates into 1.78 million children and teens who have tried the battery powered devices. The sharp increase has public health experts worried. Electronic cigarettes contain the addictive chemical nicotine and traces of cancer causing compounds called nitrosamines. The safety profile of the devices has not been fully studied, according to warnings from the Food and Drug Administration. In addition, electronic cigarettes are sold with cartridges that give them enticing flavors such as mint or chocolate, and health advocates fear they have the potential to turn teens on to regular cigarettes. "The increased use of electronic cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement. "Many teens who start with electronic cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes.” The new study, published in Friday's edition of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, is based on data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey. It found that 1.1% of students in grades 6 through 8 were using electronic cigarettes at least once a month, as were 2.8% of students in grades 9 to 12. Among these regular electronic cigarette users, 76.3% also smoked traditional cigarettes. But the report's authors from the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products and the CDC's Office on Smoking
And Health expressed particular concern about students who had used electronic cigarettes but had not yet tried conventional cigarettes. The researchers estimated that 160,000 students across the country fell into that category.
"The risk for nicotine addiction and initiation of the use of conventional cigarettes or other tobacco products" among these students is a "serious concern," they wrote.
Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 440,000 deaths each year, including 49,400 due to secondhand smoke, according to the CDC. Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable electronic cigarettes. "When you see cotton candy, bubble gum and atomic fireball flavors, there's no question these products are being marketed directly at kids," said Erika Sward, the group's vice president for national advocacy. "I think this data really shows our concerns are real." Electronic cigarette manufacturers insist that they are not marketing the devices to minors.
Tom Kiklas, the chief financial officer of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Assn., said a federal appeals court ruled in 2010 that electronic cigarettes were not medical devices and should instead be considered tobacco products. As such, their sale to minors is prohibited by law, and it's the responsibility of retailers to ensure that buyers are of legal age, he said.
"Kids aren't supposed to be buying any tobacco product," Kiklas said. The American Thoracic Society, like the American Lung Assn., has criticized electronic cigarette manufacturers for marketing their products as a means to help people quit smoking. "These products are not approved by the FDA as smoking cessation devices," said society spokesman Gary Ewart. If the FDA intends to restrict access to electronic cigarettes before they take off with consumers, it's probably too late. One tobacco industry analyst from Wells Fargo Securities predicts Americans will spend $1.7 billion on electronic cigarettes this year. That means public health authorities should get busy, according to the authors of the new study. "Given the rapid increase in use and youths' susceptibility to social and environmental influences to use tobacco, developing strategies to prevent marketing, sales, and use of electronic cigarettes among youths is critical," they wrote.

Response Questions:

•What modern day effects can electronic cigarettes have on our teens?

•What can the parents of teens do to help regulate the use of electronic cigarettes?

•How much money are Americans predicted to spend this year on electronic cigarettes?

Reflection:

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Electronic Cigarettes

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages

    According to an article on opposing viewpoints by Michael Siegel said that he reviewed a report from Annals of Internal Medicine that publicly claimed that electronic cigarettes are just as dangerous as normal cigarettes. However, Seigel later claimed that using electronic cigarettes is actually much safer than regular smoking. In fact he claims that the level of tobacco-specific nitrosamines in electronic cigarettes is about 1,400 times lower in electronic than the amount in Malboros cigarettes. Seigal is a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at Boston University School of Public Health. He is very familiar with the topic of tobacco and he finally states that there is no real evidence that suggests smoking electronic cigarettes are worse than normal cigarettes (Seigal). Electronic cigarettes are meant to be used as an alternative to cigarettes, most people do not care if they are healthier or not, however, they are healthier and they do offer a better offer a more fulfilling smoking…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many members of society enjoy the fact that electronic cigarettes are cheaper and supposedly “healthier” by eliminating the second hand smoke effect. While other individuals find it annoying, worse than actual real cigarettes, and a danger to those who smoke through the electronic device. This controversy has been apparent since 2007 when the E-Cig was introduced to the North American region. With many years of tests and the “new and improved” e-cigarettes it…

    • 1788 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Electronic cigarettes are small devices that look practically identical to real cigarettes, except for the fact that they are solid and can be re-used over and over. Inside the cigarette…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    More than one-third (34.8 percent) of high school students reported using some form of tobacco in the past month. More than a quarter…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigs, which were created in China 10 years ago, are battery powered devices that vaporize liquid nicotine. In the article, “Smoke Signals”, the author Alessandra Potenza addresses the problems of unregulated electronic cigarettes. Although they can help smokers quit cigarettes, they can also cause nicotine addiction. Electronic cigarettes are becoming popular among youth and because they are unregulated, U.S. officials are worried.…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Electronic cigarettes are modern devices that are beginning to make smoking look fashionable again. Companies of the products trick consumers by claiming the products are safe, and offer lower prices as a way to reel in their customers. The consumers do not know that they are falling into a marketing trap. As electronic cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular and acceptable, more individuals are using the devices as a substitute to traditional cigarettes. The devices are used to inhale nicotine, without the smoke byproduct that cigarettes create. Others feel that the dangerous chemicals found inside could be creating serious complications. Additional legislation should be put in place, to decrease the use and availability of electronic cigarettes.…

    • 1890 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Electronic cigarettes are one of the most common ways people are smoking now a days. These are newer devices and have not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Since the FDA has not approved electronic cigarettes or what goes inside them, the FDA has no idea what companies are putting in electronic cigarettes or if it is even safe for users to be ingesting. These are newer devices and right now there is no information on how they will impact users in the future like if it could potentially cause cancer or other problems. There is also a major concern that electronic cigarettes are being used more and more by those under the age of 18, which is concerning many doctors and other healthcare professional. They are concerned that the younger users have more of a chance to become addicted to nicotine. Medical professionals are also concerned that more people will start smoking because they think that electronic cigarettes are less harmful. People should also be aware that there have been cases where electronic cigarettes have malfunctioned and caused serious injury to the user.…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Smokeless Tobacco

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Center for Disease Control. Youth Tobacco Surveillance. CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Oct. 2000, Oct 13: vol. 49 (10), pp. 1-94…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The next reason e-cigarettes should be regulated by FDA because of the flavors in e-cigarettes Kids sometime lick the containers or drink the liquid because they are enticed by the flavor. What they don't know is that e-cigarettes have nicotine and is very dangerous to health. Kids only think about the flavors and how it taste. Kids can have the following symptoms: hyperactivity, flushing, sweating, headache, dizziness, rapid heart rate, vomiting and diarrhea. Chemicals can cause kids to go into coma or can cause death I think FDA should banned e-cigarettes from…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Doctors are looking at e cigarettes as the long sought solution for one of the deadliest and most avoidable public health problem: Cigarette smoking accounts for almost half a million people died from cancer, emphysema, and heart disease every year in the U.S. A positive effect on electronic cigarettes is that, e cigarettes can help tobacco smokers quit. People suggest that smokers quit slightly more easily with e cigarettes than with other cessation aids like nicotine patches or gum. A negative effect with electronic cigarettes is that, e cigarettes might actually make it harder to kick the habit of smoking; that's because they can be smoked indoors some places they are allowed indoors are is in bars and workplaces, where traditional cigarettes are banned in many states and are made to resemble tobacco cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes are less hurtful to the body than traditional cigarettes. Companies should banned traditional cigarettes because of the damage they are doing to the…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The FDA’s Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis analyzed the ingredients in a small sample of cartridges from two leading brands of electronic cigarettes. In one sample, the FDA’s analyses detected diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze that is toxic to humans, and in several other samples, the FDA analyses detected carcinogens, including nitrosamines. These tests indicate that…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Traditional cigarettes contain between 4,000 and 7,000 harmful chemicals, many of which are produced by the tobacco and smoke. Since e-cigarettes use vapor technology, they expose users to fewer carcinogens. Some studies show e-cigarettes can be effective in smoking cessation. In multiple studies and surveys, e-cigarettes have been shown to potentially help smokers to reduce their habit or to quit altogether. One New Zealand study showed e-cigarettes to be as effective as nicotine patches. The second-hand effects are far less harmful than traditional cigarettes. Though second-hand vapor exists, the levels of smoke and secondhand effects of “vaping” are magnitudes lower than traditional smoking. They are more socially acceptable and do not smell. E-cigarettes provide the same experience and sensation for smokers – particularly those with nicotine habits – but can be used in far more places. They do not leave a sticky, unpleasant odor and do not stain teeth or fingernails.…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Electronic Cigarettes

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages

    E-Cigarettes are battery operated delivery systems that give the user a wide verity of flavors which have their own chemicals to go along with the nicotine, the manufacturing of these battery operated systems have resulted in many different models and sizes that can be made to resemble almost anything like pens or USD memory sticks. There are over 250 different E-cigarette brands on the market today. People have been led to believe that they can cause a person to help break the habit. However, at this time there is still a grey area of information about the effects, it is unclear whether E-cigarettes may be effective to help people quit smokeing and be used as a cigarette quitting aid. There is also the possibility that they could perpetuate the nicotine addiction and thus interfere with quitting. A lot is to come in the future about the dangers of this product since it is a relatively new invention, information is still to come on the use and effects of vapored nicotine on the human lungs. Though the fact remains that nicotine is nicotine and the consumption of it is destined to hurt the human body in some way, but the question is whether it is worse or better than the traditional affects. The U.S. government has stepped in with its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to try and help with the dangers applied to the public and has established a new regulation for this new invention. Since the product dose deliver nicotine it is considered a tobacco product and in order to purchase one via online or in store it is now the law to be of 18 years or older to purchase one legally. Another dangerous fact is that refillable cartridges are used by some E-cigarettes. People who use them may reveal to themselves more potentially toxic levels of nicotine when refilling them.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The e-cigarette liquid comes in a variety of flavors and the devices can come in different forms from “cigars and pipes [to] pens or USB memory sticks” (NIDA et al). “E-cigarettes first appeared in the U.S. market designed to help tobacco addicts wean themselves from smoking [also known as cessation]” (Raloff). While some people think that these products really help with smoking cessation, it is still hard to tell if e-cigarettes are really helping the problem of nicotine addiction or further aggravating the issue (NIDA et al). The FDA has been trying to regulate these products but are running into roadblocks; “e-cigarettes are not currently marketed as tobacco products or as devices having a therapeutic purpose” thus making it harder to place rules on the products. With limited regulations on e-cigarette cartridges and the liquids used therein, children and young teenagers are becoming attacked by these products with little protection from…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    E-Cigarettes

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    2). Carcinogens and chemicals such as nicotine, formaldehyde, and diacetyl have been found in e-cigarettes that have been proven to be of harm to human health. For example, diacetyl has been showed to cause acute-onset bronchiolitis obliterans, which is a severe and irreversible obstructive lung disease (Rowell and Tarran, 2015, p. 8). Chemists have found various levels of chemical metals in vapor including chromium, nickel, tin, silver and aluminum when the heating elements of e-cigarettes are operated at high voltage. These chemical findings have also been related to findings in combustible cigarette usage. E-cigarettes also may potentially contain harmful compounds that are not found in tobacco products, such as propylene glycol. Propylene glycol allows for the formation of a visible vapor and is known to be a respiratory…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays