Cigarettes have earned a negative reputation among society, especially in American society. Once a popular trend amongst angsty teens and young adults, smoking cigarettes has evolved into a habit of the past, upheld by the elderly and the addicted. However, entering a new age, it is only fitting that a new bad habit has emerged among the teens of America. However, there is controversy on this new concept of smoking, better known as “vaping.” Electronic cigarettes, or “E-cigarettes,” are devices that include a cartridge of liquid chemicals, including nicotine, that are turned into a vapor by a battery-powered vaporizer. The vapor is inhaled and exhaled in the same manner of a conventional cigarette, and, despite the lack of tobacco, can lead to the same lung diseases. The purpose of e-cigarettes was to help nicotine addicts ween off the product without continual use of tobacco cigarettes. However, e-cigarettes are a popular product amongst the teenagers and young adults of America with no prior nicotine addiction and use of tobacco products. It has simply become a social norm to “vape” and is highly accepted among adolescents. The detrimental use of e-cigarettes has become widespread among the younger generation of Americans, renormalizing a new version of the cigarette.

Contributing to the widespread use of electronic cigarettes is the various forms of the product. Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, ENDS, come in the form of e-cigarettes, vapes, hookah pens, and vape pens. The products are designed to appeal to young crowds, not only in appearance but also with many different flavors. The flavors are included in the chemical concoction put into the e-cig’s cartridge. The flavors also have a variety of scents, making them more appealing than regular cigarettes. Of course, while the product is only sold to people 18 years of age and older, the CDC and FDA both found that e-cigarettes were used by 5.3% of middle schoolers and 16% of high schoolers in 2015 (Singh et. al). These estimates are fairly concerning for the American public, especially when the cause was not intended to have this sort of effect on the youth. These statistics indicate that the “e-cig” trend is a huge problem for Americans, as the habit has become way more common in the past two years, when the research was last gathered by the CDC. A study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics showed that teenagers significantly used e-cigarettes more when they were exposed to e-cigarette advertisements. These advertisements target easily swayed adolescents through the Internet, social media, television, and magazines (Agaku, et al.).

With such mundane advertisements of the products, an extremely false perception of the product has been adopted by the American public. Most people are familiar with e-cigarettes but unaware of the detrimental effects it has on the body. When asked about e-cigarettes, many assumed that the product was simply a healthy replacement for conventional cigarettes. With this public misconception, people do not understand the possible harm they cause themselves by using e-cigarettes. This makes the product more appealing and does not discourage the e-cigarette trend because it is “harmless.” The problem with people with this viewpoint is that they not only harm themselves but also harm others who may adopt these false viewpoints. When e-cigarettes first came out, it was so widely misconceived as “safe” that the FDA didn’t even have insight on the product. Now the FDA has insight on the production and sale of all tobacco products, which can help regulate ENDS (Nathan). This recent change in FDA policy resulted from emerging research on the harms of e-cigarettes, which indicated that the product was unsafe and required tough regulations. In a study published in the American Journal of Health Behavior, a group of researchers questioned a wide dynamic of people about e-cigarettes. Most of the people believed that e-cigarettes were a safe alternative to smoking due to advertisements (Cataldo). People mostly use e-cigarettes because they believe the product is safe. Since these people continue to use the product, they take steps towards normalizing the use of e-cigarettes.

The unknown effects on the body caused by e-cigarettes is vast, but even the little that is known about the harms of e-cigarettes is frightening. E-cigarettes have been known to cause multiple lung diseases and effect brain development in teenagers. The chemicals in e-cigarettes also contribute to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The nicotine, by itself, can act as an appetite suppressant and can increase the user’s blood pressure (Ross). The negative effects of nicotine should be reason enough to abstain from e-cigarette use. However, some e-cigarettes do not contain nicotine, but they still contain harmful chemicals, including the flavoring agents. Researchers tested 51 e-cigarette flavors and found that 47 of them contained at least one flavoring chemical linked to diseases. For example, diacetyl, a flavoring agent, can result in “popcorn lung” (Allen, 2016). E-cigarette chemicals also contain propylene glycol and glycerol, which have proven to be toxic compounds in the body (Ross). Since the use of e-cigarettes is so prevalent among teens, the risk is higher, since their growing bodies are more receptive to developmental deficits. This should pose a huge concern for the American public, since it has been established that the public perceives e-cigarettes as “safe” even though it could be contributing to a lethal addiction. The CDC estimates that if this trend continues, about 5.6 million Americans currently under the age of 18 will die early due to diseases caused by smoking (Singh et. al.). 

The product has proven to be ineffective in helping others quit as well. More and more adults are simply substituting one bad habit for another, never actually quitting but simply moving on to something “harmless” (Nathan). This public misconception is damaging for society because it reiterates that e-cigarettes are a healthy alternative to smoking. If people feel comfortable using e-cigarettes because of a very loose comparison to conventional cigarettes, then they will continue to ignore the negative health effect of e-cigarettes. By ignoring these effects and continuing to use the product as a supposedly beneficial alternative, users are acting like walking advertisements that contribute to the growing e-cigarette trend.

The main argument in support of e-cigarettes is their lack of harm in comparison to common cigarettes. This does little to nullify the various negative bodily effects the chemicals in e-cigarettes can have. The use of e-cigarettes is also continuously justified due to the original intent of its producers. However, a 2017 study showed that, while the rate of people who attempted to quit was high, only 8% of the people surveyed were able to quit for longer than 3 months (Chan). This indicates that the e-cigarettes were not nearly as successful as to be expected. This has largely to do with the addictive nicotine quality of the product and the public’s view of the product as harmless. So, despite the minimal benefits, e-cigarettes cause more harm than good, especially in the American youth who legally cannot be using an e-cigarette but still have easy access to the product.

The trend to use e-cigarettes continues to harm the American youth. Disguised as harmless fun, the use of e-cigarettes is predicted to harm millions of young teenagers, just as cigarettes did when they first became popular. It is essential that the public is knowledgeable about the harms of using e-cigarettes. Without this public knowledge of e-cigarettes’ negative effects, the product may continue to spread among America’s youth. The use of e-cigarettes is so widespread in the U.S. that teenagers have gained easy access to these products. The users of e-cigarettes seem to not anticipate the negative effects that may occur with continual exposure to e-cig chemicals. Advertisements aimed towards young crowds play a big role in the products continuous growth. The products have yet to have a drastically beneficial outcome, this means that the product is lacking in effect, and, therefore, playing little significance to real life nicotine addicts. With FDA regulations on e-cigarettes, the trend to “vape” will decrease and the view on the product will drastically change as researchers go more public with the real harms of e-cigarettes. The use of e-cigarettes is advertised as a harmless choice among teenagers that renormalizes this new version of smoking.
