Javier PadillaThe Secretary of State for Health of the Spanish Government announced today that a draft will be prepared in the coming days modification of Royal Decree 579/2017at which sale disposable electronic cigarettes and their flavors.
This is a clear commitment to regulating vaping that other countries such as the UK or China have already followed through on. In the case of Spain, this decision was argued for two main reasons. On the one side, caring for the environmentsince electronic cigarettes of this type produce a lot polluting waste. And, on the other hand, protection of youth and adolescents. It has been observed that e-cigarettes may be a gateway to tobacco use for many of these people.
The latter is curious, since these devices were initially promoted as an alternative. to encourage smokers to quit tobacco. But marketing has gone too far. They were advertised as something harmless, although this is not the case. They are less dangerous than tobacco, but not harmless. Given this false sense of security, many teenagers began using them. They didn’t even hide from their parents, because they also believed that there was no problem. Gradually, this gave rise to a habit that developed into smoking. Therefore, there is no benefit, but a lot of harm. The initiative of the Spanish government is more than good.
Electronic cigarettes as a way to tobacco
The government’s case for protecting young people is more than founded There are numerous studies that show that e-cigarettes are becoming a dangerous gateway to tobacco use.
For example, a 2016 review of 4 studies found that indeed young people who use e-cigarettes more likely to switch to tobaccoeven if it didn’t attract their attention at first.
It’s not just a nicotine problem
Some studies pointing to e-cigarettes as a route to tobacco explain that this is primarily due to their content in nicotine. In an article published by a Johns Hopkins University cardiologist Michael Blahait also pointed to nicotine addiction as the culprit behind the big jump. However, he explains that this is not the only reason. The very fact of starting electronic smoking can lead to interest in other formats. It is enough to see that in Spain the sale of chocolate cigarettes to children is prohibited due to the promotion of tobacco. Wouldn’t that be more likely to encourage them to smoke?
Moreover, even without taking into account the risks of smoking tobacco, e-cigarettes are dangerous for other reasons. Blaha himself explains that the flavors banned by the new Spanish royal decree contain many substances harmful to health.
There are studies that point to mint flavors as the most dangerous, although none of them are harmless. On the other hand, in addition to the substances responsible for imparting taste, flavorings have a high content heavy metals and in substances such as propylene glycolwhich, when burned, can cause chronic inflammation of the bronchial mucosa. In addition, the steam generated during combustion contains carcinogenic substances such as carbonyls, formaldehyde or acetaldehyde.
As if all this were not enough, it has been observed that the use of e-cigarettes worsens asthma attacks in children and adolescents. And all this is observed in the short term. We have already seen that vapor contains many carcinogens, so the long-term risks can be very high. Vaping is not a game, so all countries should regulate it for the dangerous habit it truly is.
Source: Hiper Textual
