Vaping and health concerns. Vices that impact health of individuals.

Vaping and Health Concerns
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Vaping and Health Concerns
There are many vices in the world that impact the health of individuals. Tobacco use is one such vice that has attracted a large number of people all over the world. However, tobacco use also has its disadvantages with many people getting addicted and succumbing to diseases that result from smoking. Currently, the CDC reports that tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death (2010). In spite of this fact, the CDC reports that more people are smoking every day with 2,800 people starting to smoke every year. With negative reports about tobacco use getting circulated, it felt right that tobacco companies find alternatives to help alleviate the issues associated with tobacco use. This thus led to the introduction of vaping which has been propagated as a safe alternative. However, damning reports have been circulating regarding vaping and it appears that these alternatives dubbed as safe are not anywhere close to being safe. Reports of people dying or getting sick from some of the chemical products used in vaping products continue to elicit numerous debates. Currently, the public is debating over the legality of vaping products and there is a growing concern over its health impacts. This article thus seeks to discuss vaping and its health concerns while also seeking to offer potential courses of action with regards to vaping.
One of the things often highlighted about vaping is that it mainly targets young people. From the advertisements to the flavors, vaping is seen to be heavily targeting the young people and to a great extent, it has been successful. Knowles and Sun (2019) write that e-cigarette use among young people has been on the rise. While quoting a study, Rapaport (2018) writes that “roughly 10.8 million American adults are currently using e-cigarettes, and more than half of them are under 35 years old.” This is a shocking statistic because it confirms reports that e-cigarettes are mainly appealing to young people. Looking at high school students, the trend of using e-cigarettes is also catching on with more high school seniors among the heavy users of e-cigarettes. The CDC reports that e-cigarette use in high school and middle school students is on the rise as well (2019). “E-cigarette use increased from 11.7% to 20.8% among high school students and from 3.3% to 4.9% among middle school students from 2017 to 2018” (CDC). These are staggering and shocking discoveries because a majority of these students are oblivious to the effects of e-cigarettes on their health. With health concerns and death among the reported effects of vaping, the increase in vaping among young people ought to spur action. In their article, Richtel and Kaplan (2018) write that investigations are ongoing to determine whether vaping company Juul lured teenagers with its advertising. It is sickening that companies would target a group of people who are not in a position to judge the intentions of the adverts. With rising health concerns over aping products, one can only wonder whether companies like Juul are destroying the future by making the young people hooked on their products. Young people mainly want to fit in and when vaping is advertised as the product that makes one stand out and appear cool, then it becomes easier to get more to try the products. It is a sad fact for the public but a profitable one for vaping companies.
Numerous reports have indicated that there are some health issues that are associated with vaping products. In their article, Knowles and Sun (2019) write that there has been a “rash of mysterious vaping-linked illnesses that have put healthy people in the hospital with serious lung diseases.” Christiani (2019) supports the reports by Knowles and Sun indicating that further damning reports about the health issues caused by vaping have been confirmed. He writes that depending on the type chemical agent and the amount of material inhaled, patients may experience various symptoms. Some of the symptoms they list as evident in people who vape include minor respiratory tract discomfort, acute airway injury, and respiratory failure. Even though the compounds or chemicals leading to the above issues are yet to be identified, the two researchers indicate that these health concerns should warrant further investigation into vaping companies. While trying to further the discussion and investigation into the health impacts of vaping, Gregoire (2019) notes that contaminants in the vaping products can also be considered as the substances likely to negatively influence the health of users. Further investigation is indeed crucial to help establish the truth behind the claims stated by the authors. If there are truly health concerns, then it is crucial that the FDA increases the pressure on vaping companies in the hope of ensuring greater or enhanced health for the public. As the mandated body with enough power to either ban or curtail the sale of vaping products, it is upon the FDA to give direction on the matter at hand. It is inhuman when companies are profiting at the expense of the public’s health. So, instead of waiting to hear about more studies on the health impacts of vaping, it is crucial that some ground rules are set and vaping companies be tasked with being responsible for whatever products they are churning.
Vaping products have also been said to lead to death something that vaping companies have been denying all along. In an article by Belluz (2019), a majority of vaping-related illness deaths are a...