Most people thought that e-cigarettes would be a passing fad, but these electronic pipes are here to stay. An increasing number of restaurants and offices won’t let people “vape” indoors, forcing e-cigarette smokers to go outside and blow their mist into the air with other traditional cigarette smokers. In the UK, the sale of e-cigarettes have soared by 340% and in South Africa, you will find mobile stalls for the popular Twisp electronic cigarette in most large shopping centres.
What makes e-cigarettes healthier?
What makes e-cigarettes healthier is that they don’t contain tobacco, but only nicotine (the addictive substance found in tobacco). According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, people who smoke tobacco lose about 8 years of their life. In developed countries as a whole, tobacco was responsible for 24% of all male deaths and 7% of all female deaths, rising to over 40% in men in some former socialist economies.
Humans don’t die from the nicotine consumption from cigarettes, but rather from the toxic gases and tar particles that make their way into your lungs and body through the combustion of tobacco leaves and cigarettes. People also aren’t addicted to the tar, toxic gases or tobacco, they’re addicted to the nicotine (which is why nicotine gum, patches and other nicotine replacement therapies are legal and encouraged by doctors).
Lots of studies are being done and while researchers can’t yet confirm or deny whether e-cigarette smoking causes cancer, everyone can confirm that normal cigarettes have a high possibility of leading to lung damage, lung disease and a wide range of cancers.
It’s safer for you
A common counter-argument to the safety of smoking is that it’s still too new to know what the full effects on the human body would be, but this is only an opinion. Tobacco control organisations as well as a number of UK medical regulatory associations acknowledge that it’s safer than smoking.
Yes, it’s better for the environment
According to Earth911.com, the improper disposal of cigarette buds costs America USD$11.5-billion each year. Cigarette buds are also made of a type of plastic called cellulose acetate that takes more than a decade to break down and degrade.
Obviously it’s better to do no smoking than any type of vaping or smoking – it’s better for your body, your budget and the people around you who don’t like the smell. But if you have to choose, then consider e-cigarettes because they’re a more eco-friendly and sociable kind of smoking.
