While the conventional cigarette seems to be losing ground worldwide, a new phenomenon emerges that is gaining more and more momentum: the electronic cigarette or ‘vaper’. The advance of this product has raised the alert of specialists and the main control agencies, who study its effects to determine whether or not to take measures.
According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), currently 22.3% of the world population over 15 years of age use tobacco. However, in the year 2000, that figure was 32.7%, which marks a decrease of more than 10 points.
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But, on the contrary, the same entity assures that in the last decade the ‘vaping’ -as if it knows the action of smoking electronic cigarettes- increased substantially in Latin America, to the point that the Pan American Health Organization had to pronounce and warn about “the detrimental effects it has on health”.
Adverse pulmonary effects for medicine
“The effects at the respiratory level are very similar in the sense that increase the risk of respiratory conditions because the barrier mechanisms at the respiratory level are alternated ”, the pulmonologist Esmeralda Aspuru explains to the Voice of America from Mexico City.
Precisely, doctors and specialists assure that the consumption of this type of cigarettes is as harmful as that of traditional, and can even generate an equal or greater level of addiction. Nicotine is the main component of these ‘vapers’, and this explains the degree of dependence.
For her part, Patricia Sosa, Director of Programs for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Campaign for tobacco-free Kids, explained that It is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. and in all Latin American countries.
How much electronic cigarette do you smoke?
In this context, firms such as Mordor Intelligence predict that the electronic cigarette market in the region will have a compound annual growth rate of 5.4% during the period 2020 – 2025. While along the same lines, the WHO forecasts that until 2027 there will be an increase in consumption of around 6%.
Young people are part of the population that consumes the most. “The risk in young people is the risk of starting this smoking career that leads them to generate damage that will not be seen immediately but that will reduce their health in at least 10 years of minimum life, in their quality of life”, commented the Argentine doctor Gabriela Senatore.
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According to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 1 in 5 teens use disposable e-cigarettes, to avoid the prohibitions that exist on traditional ‘vapers’. To circumvent the restrictions, many also use social networks as shopping channels.
The large companies that manufacture and sell this type of cigarette defend themselves, ensure that their products are safe and that they comply with all current international regulationsas Juul did through a statement published weeks ago after the FDA’s decision was known -later revised- to restrict the sale of all products of this brand.
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