E-cigarettes are all over the place, specially in the younger population. The device vaporizes flavored liquids, mostly made out of nicotine and other substances, in order to be inhaled by the user.
A study published by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio stated that e-cigarettes are causing an incredible damage in young children that are exposed to the liquid nicotine. According to one of the authors, Gary Smith, every three hours a poison center responds to a poisoning case in a minor. That index is critical, considering that it translates to more than seven kids each day.
The main goal of the study was to understand the index of exposure to e-cigarettes, as well as the consequences of it, in children under 6 years old. The data used involved exposure both to e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes, as well as to other tobacco products. The population that was studied included more than 21,500 children exposed to different tobacco products for a time period of 40 months.
The results
Children under 6 are the most vulnerable to chemical ingredients in the liquids vaporized in e-cigarettes. The National Poison Data System published last year that in a two-year period (2013-2015) one child died and a hundred others got affected. How did this happen? Presumably, kids have a tendency to ingest the dangerous liquids, specially the youngest children.
Swallowing the substance may lead to severe affections or death, and what may start with vomits can quickly transform into difficulty to breath and heart troubles. The toxicity of liquid nicotine is severe for adults; for children the risks are even higher.
Vaping in the U.S.
After 2010, the number of users of e-cigarettes showed a dramatic increase. In high school students, using these devices is getting more common than ever, the index is now three times larger than the index in 2013. It is a growing industry, almost getting more that 10K a year.
The plot twist has been that e-cigarettes consumers are not quitting traditional tobacco products, but instead are using them in parallel. An online poll made by Reuters this month showed that about 10 percent of adults are now using e-cigarettes.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office provided the following statistics about the use of e-cigarettes:
- More than 3 million middle and high school students were current users of e-cigarettes in 2015, up from an estimated 2.46 million in 2014.
- Sixteen percent of high school and 5.3 percent of middle school students were current users of e-cigarettes in 2015, making e-cigarettes the most commonly used tobacco product among youth for the second consecutive year.
- During 2011-2015, e-cigarette use rose from 1.5 percent to 16.0 percent among high school students and from 0.6 percent to 5.3 percent among middle school students.
- In 2013-2014, 81% of current youth e-cigarette users cited the availability of appealing flavors as the primary reason for use.
- In 2014, 12.6% of U.S. adults had ever tried an e-cigarette, and about 3.7% of adults used e-cigarettes daily or some days.
Source: Nation Wide Children