By Mia Ingui
“They’re not real cigarettes. What’s the harm?”
“I’m using these to QUIT smoking, obviously.”
“Everyone is vaping now, so why not?”
Danger often wears disguises, and this time, it comes disguised as an e-cig. Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigs as they’re called, are a new form of “smoking” thought to be significantly safer and less harmful to the body.
Yet, studies have proven that actually, they are not all that different from the original thing. They look the same, even light up at the end, and are used the same way, but with an electronic cigarette, one would puff out a cloud of vapor instead of smoke.
What is the most dangerous thing about this new form of smoking? No one knows yet. That is what is so risky and concerning about electronic cigarettes. So, are they safe to use?
Although there is no real smoke, the high amounts of nicotine within the vapor are addictive and can be harmful later on down the road to the arteries and the heart. The appeal of the drug as being “safer” than smoking real cigarettes is also harmful to the non-smokers and children of our generation, who will think that this type of smoking is not offlimits and not harmful, when meanwhile, it is.
Because there are still many unknowns in the picture, like the effects on the body in the future and possible damage from secondhand use of electronic cigarettes, they can be considered just as dangerous as picking up a cigarette.