E-cigarettes should Be Regulated to Protect Children and Adolescentsan e-Cigarette

E-cigarettes should Be Regulated to Protect Children and Adolescents
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Abstract
Children and adolescents continue to use e-cigarettes in large quantities. This is partly because of the increase in advertisements and the lack of knowledge concerning the health effects of the products. E-cigarettes have been associated with possible health issues such as lung damage and reducing the brain’s ability to develop. A child’s use of e-cigarettes can also result in the future use of tobacco cigarettes. A framework for e-cigarettes is most appropriate to reduce the health effects of e-cigarettes to children. The framework focuses on regulating the advertisement of e-cigarettes, by limiting such adverts on social media and other media sites. The framework also regulates the minimum age for purchasing, distributing and using e-cigarettes, and restricts the outdoor use of e-cigarettes in public places. The framework can be implemented through the support of the Food and Drug Administration, which can push for its implementation in the Senate. Effective implementation of this framework can help reduce e-cigarettes use among children and adolescents, hence reducing health risks.
Keywords: E-cigarettes, FDA, Regulatory Framework
E-cigarettes should Be Regulated to Protect Children and Adolescents
Adolescents are an important consideration in the heated debate over the use of electronic cigarettes. In many nations, the number of child and adult smokers has decreased mainly because of the control policies that have been set up in these countries (Petrescu, Vasiljevic, Pepper, Ribisl, & Marteau, 2017). Despite the decline in the number of youths experimenting with tobacco cigarettes, the experimentation with electronic cigarettes has become more common. In an experiment conducted in England in 2014, approximately 22 percent of children aged between the ages of 11 and 15 had experimented with e-cigarettes (Petrescu, Vasiljevic, Pepper, Ribisl, & Marteau, 2017). A study by Bauld et al. (2017) also shows that e-cigarettes use among the youth in the United Kingdom has increased from 7% in 2016 to 11% in 2017. A majority of children and adolescents who use e-cigarettes are unaware of the harmful effects of the product. It is, however, unclear whether the use of e-cigarettes can eventually result in tobacco smoking. Among tobacco smokers, the habit of using e-cigarettes is reported to be helpful in cutting down their use of cigarettes. This shows that with appropriate regulations, e-cigarettes can have the potential to contribute towards a tobacco-free community. However, despite its importance in minimizing tobacco use, the products should be regulated to prevent its use by children and the youth. This will involve government intervention to discourage adolescents and children from experimenting with the products, and limiting the risks to bystanders and users. A regulatory framework for electronic cigarettes should be put in place to reduce these risks while exploiting their potential to eliminate the health burden that is brought about by nicotine consumption.
Some factors have contributed to children experimenting with e-cigarettes. To begin with, it is commonly assumed that adolescents have a higher impulsivity rate, as well as a proclivity of adopting dangerous behaviors, as compared to other individuals (Christie & Viner, 2005). Moreover, the planned behavior theoretical model explains that a person’s perception can greatly impact their decision to participate in a certain manner (Montano & Kasprzyk, 2015). In line with this theory, a large number of adolescents have perceived e-cigarettes as healthier, cool, safer to use and easier to conceal as compared to tobacco cigarettes. Advertisements are considered to be a major contributor to the high rates of experimentation among children and adolescents. An analysis of the US panel data reveals that there has been an increase in promotional spending for e-cigarettes. In 2013, the sum of money used to promote e-cigarettes was $28 million; the sum was eight times higher than that spent in 2012 (Petrescu, Vasiljevic, Pepper, Ribisl, & Marteau, 2017).
Furthermore, e-cigarette brands are known to promote their cigarettes through online campaigns that claim e-cigarettes are useful in assisting smoking cessation and are healthier than the ordinary tobacco cigarette (Petrescu, Vasiljevic, Pepper, Ribisl, & Marteau, 2017). E-cigarette advertisements also feature messages which were formally used by tobacco cigarette adverts some time back. The adverts depict the use of the products as a symbol of freedom, cool, and attractive, and link their use to celebrities who are liked by the youth (Petrescu, Vasiljevic, Pepper, Ribisl, & Marteau, 2017). Because e-cigarettes have been shown to be much safer than tobacco cigarettes and useful in assisting smoking cessation, adolescents might view e-cigarettes as actually improving their health. Linking e-cigarettes to health and glamour has affected how children and adolescents view the product, and it has also increased its use among these groups of individuals.
Despite the absence of sufficient evidence to verify the effects of e-cigarettes on a person’s health, several risks are associated with the product. E-cigarettes can be regarded as tobacco products mainly because of the nicotine in the products, a substance that is also found in tobacco. Nicotine exposure can greatly affect the development of a person’s brain (Dwyer, McQuown, & Leslie, 2009). The brain begins to develop during fetus growth and continues to do so until a person reaches the age of twenty-five (Dwyer, McQuown, & Leslie, 2009). This would mean that the brains of adolescents and children are still in the developing stage. Nicotine exposure during this stage results in a neurotoxic effect on the developing brain and can easily lead to addiction (Dwyer, McQuown, & Leslie, 2009). This means that adolescents and children who use electronic cigarettes are at a greater risk of using tobacco cigarettes in the long run.
Moreover, electronic cigarettes contain other potentially dangerous substances such as volatile organic compounds, heavy metals like nickel, ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs, and flavorings like diacetyl (U.S Surgeon General, 2018). These substances can be associated with lung diseases or irreversible lung damage. Meaning that e-cigarettes are likely to have adverse effects on a human’s health.
Current policies regulating e-cigarette do not align with the initiative to end tobacco use since they restrict e-cigarettes use among addicted smokers. E-cigarette use is regulated in 68 countries (Kennedy, Awopegba, De Leon, & Cohen, 2016). The policies regulating e-cigarette use in these countries are based on existing policies while other countries have opted to create new policies. Nonetheless, the policies in these countries have mainly focused on prohibitions on the sale, importation, distribution, advertising, manufacturing, and use of the products. For instance, Argentina has prohibited the advertisement, distribution, importation, and sale of e-cigarettes (Kennedy, Awopegba, De Leon, & Cohen, 2016). Greece has also prohibited the advertising, manufacture, and sale of e-cigarettes (Kennedy, Awopegba, De Leon, & Cohen, 2016). These regulations can affect the initiative to end tobacco use since the e-cigarettes are more regulated than tobacco use in most nations, meaning that it would be difficult for the products to help tobacco addicts ease their cessation and eventually quit smoking. Since e-cigarettes have been known to influence addicted tobacco smokers by assisting in smoking cessation pos...