Contents:
- Medical Video: Mayo Clinic Minute: Are e-cigarettes safe?
- What is the danger of e-cigarettes compared to tobacco cigarettes?
- Which is safer?
Medical Video: Mayo Clinic Minute: Are e-cigarettes safe?
Electric cigarette, often called a vape or e-cigarette, was originally created in China in 2003 by a pharmacist to reduce cigarette smoke, and is one way to help people stop smoking. Vape consists of a battery, a cartridgecontaining liquid, and a heating element that can warm and vaporize the liquid into the air.
What is the danger of e-cigarettes compared to tobacco cigarettes?
- Tobacco cigarettes emit smoke from tobacco combustion; Electric cigarettes produce steam from fruit flavoring liquids, and heated nicotine.
- Tobacco smoking can cause heart disease, lung disease, impotence, disorders of pregnancy and the fetus; vape causes interference with the nose and breathing throat.
- Tobacco cigarettes contain nicotine, tar, arsenic, carbon monoxide, ammonia and various other chemicals; electric cigarettes contain nicotine, glycerol vegetables, propylene glycol, artificial sweeteners, and various fruit flavors.
- Besides smoke, tobacco cigarettes leave garbage like cigarette ash and cigarettes; while vape does not leave trash.
- Tobacco smoke leaves a smell and does not dissolve in liquid; Electric cigarettes leave vapors that dissolve in liquids and smell from fruit flavorings.
- One pack of tobacco cigarettes is sold at a price of ± IDR 16,000; vape is sold at a price of ± Rp150,000.00 to Rp.500,000.00.
- Tobacco cigarettes have special regulations in Government Regulation no. 109; there are no specific regulations regarding circulation of vape in Indonesia.
Which is safer?
According to Dr. Nauki Kunugita, a researcher from the National Institute of Public Health in Japan, found in one e-cigarette 10 times the level of carcinogens (a group of substances that can directly damage DNA, promote or help cancer) compared to one ordinary cigarette.
Tjandra Yoga Aditama, Head of the Health Research and Development Agency (Balitbangkes) of the Ministry of Health explained in a press release that the nicotine solution contained in electric cigarettes has a different composition and in general there are 4 types of mixtures. But all types of mixtures contain nicotine, propylene glycol.
CNN Indonesia also said that the dangers of vape include causing acute nicotine poisoning and the presence of cases of child mortality. Not only are cigarettes dangerous, inhaled vapors can cause asthma attacks, shortness of breath, and coughing. This cigarette is also dangerous for people with pneumonia, heart failure, disorientation, seizures, hypotension, to burns due to the explosion of electric cigarettes in the mouth.
So, until now there are no facts that prove that e-cigarettes are safer than tobacco cigarettes. As reported by cnnindonesia.com, various studies have conducted research on e-cigarettes and the results of these studies are:
- This electric cigarette is claimed to contain harmful substances such as Tobacco Specific Nitrosamines (TSNA), Diethylene Glycol (DEG) and carbon monoxide.
- Long-term use of e-cigarettes can significantly increase plasma nicotine levels after five minutes of use.
- Not only that, these cigarettes also increase plasma carbon monoxide levels and the pulse frequency significantly which can interfere with health.
- Has an acute effect on the lung as in tobacco cigarettes, ie exhaled air nitric oxide levels significantly decrease and airway resistance increases significantly.
In fact, the danger of vape is also able to encourage the culture of smoking in children, as explained by Jessica, the study leader from the University of Southern California, United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned all countries in the world to ban children, pregnant women and productive age women from smoking electric cigarettes.
