Trevor Bailey

Professor Stacie Weatbrook

English 1010
29 November 2015
Electronic Cigarettes; An Innovation or A New Hazard?
The world is constantly evolving, which solves old problems and
creates new ones. The battle against big tobacco has been going on for
decades, from creating restrictions on the purchasing age to banning
tobacco commercials. The advancement of technology has joined the battle.
Smokers are always looking for ways to kick their habit, whether its the
patch, gum, or just quit cold-turkey. Now with the popularity of electronic
cigarettes growing, some smokers are switching to get their nicotine fix. Is
the switch to electronic cigarettes safe? Or did we just create a new
problem?
It looks like electronic cigarettes popped up out of nowhere. Whether
its the cool designs of the device or the juice that you add to it, whatever it
is vaping is catching on quick. This new device is attracting younger adults
and even teenagers in high school. It seems like there is a new flavor every
week and the names to go along with it, makes the flavors sound delicious.
With flavors like bubblegum or banana split, why wouldnt it seem appealing?
It becomes more obvious that the trend is spreading in the younger

population. The use of electronic cigarettes in high school rose 2% in a year

(Yoneyama 2015). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported
that more than 260,000 of the youth population tried electronic cigarettes
without having tried regular cigarettes (Marcus, 2014). That number is tripled
from two years earlier.
Does it really matter if it is attracting more kids to this new product?
After all the new studies are showing that electronic cigarettes are 95% safer
than regular cigarettes (Berwick, 2015). Across the pond, Britain Health
Officials believe that they could eliminate cigarettes with this new
innovation. The United Kingdom is working towards medically prescribing
electronic cigarette devices to help their population quit their habit. Even the
four major tobacco companies recognize the trend, by investing into ecigarettes to make up the revenue they lost. Imperial Tobacco, which is one
of the major tobacco companies, applied to be a licensed medical provider
for the electronic cigarettes.
While we are out-weighing the pros and cons of this matter, we need to
look into what other studies are showing. It appears that e-cigarettes are not
as harmful as cigarettes, but it does not make them harmless. The state of
California performed studies, finding that there are ten toxic chemicals that
are in the juice of the e-cigarettes (Nirappil, 2015). The findings of this study
also showed that the nicotine poising for children under five was at 7 in
2012; that number grew to 154 last year. Many states, like Utah and New

Jersey have already banned the use of electronic cigarettes indoors,

California isnt far behind them in the process. California also banned the
sale of e-cigarettes and its accessories to minors in 2010. Another study
performed by The New England Journal of Medicine showed that burning at a
high temperature setting, the vapor can cause formaldehyde exposure to the
user (Marchione, 2015). Formaldehyde is a cancer causing chemical.
The more studies that are performed, the more we learn about this
game-changing device. What are the studies leaving out? They could be
showing favor to one side of the argument. For example, the studies from
New England Journal of Medicine reported high levels of formaldehyde, which
they state is more harmful than smoking. The study was carried under
unrealistic conditions. The e-liquid was severely overheated and when
performed in more realistic conditions, the study couldnt detect any levels
formaldehyde (Seigel, 2015).
In my conclusion of writing this essay, I acknowledge that the studies
of electronic cigarettes are more incomplete and need to continue the doing
more studies. As far as what the studies show, its still safer than smoking a
traditional cigarette. The government should continue to create restrictions
in order to prevent the youth from vaping, but should not ban the product all
together. The electronic cigarette could be the greatest innovating tool in
regards of quitting tobacco. As for now, e-cigarettes will be viewed as the

savior from tobacco, but if the numbers of the youth vapors continues to
grow, it will just become next problem we will face.

Works Cited
Berwick, Angus. "UK Study Endorses "Game-Changing" E-Cigarettes for First Time." Reuters Media. 19
Aug. 2015: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
Marchione, Marilynn. "Lab Tests Imply Formaldehyde Risk in Some E-Cigarette Vapor." Washington
Times. 21 Jan. 2015: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
Marcus, Ruth. "A New Generation 'Lights Up'." Washington Post. 07 Sep. 2014: A.19. SIRS Issues
Researcher.Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
Nirappil, Fenit. "California Declares Electronic Cigarettes a Health Threat." Santa Barbara News-Press.
28 Jan. 2015: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
Siegel, Michael B. "The Misbegotten Crusade Against E-Cigarettes." Wall Street Journal. 25 Feb. 2015:
A.13. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
Yoneyama, Kiyohiko. "E-Cigarette Vapor Carcinogenic, Study Shows." Japan News. 20 Jun. 2015:
n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.