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Prevent the Renormalizing of Smoking

http://www.modernreaders.com/e-cigarettes-kids-and-the-battle-to-prevent-the-renormalizing-of-smoking-2/32225/larry-kramer

Electronic cigarettes have been all over the news as of late, with supporters of the devices continuing to insist they’re a fundamental good. Evidence suggests that when used carefully and for the purpose for which they were (supposedly) intended, it is possible for an electronic cigarette to make it easier for a smoker to cut down or quit.

Critics on the other hand see the subject quite differently, insisting that the devices have already been responsible for luring an innumerable army of teenagers and children right into the arms of full-blown nicotine addiction. The general consensus among experts is that that long-term health risks associated with e-cigarette are less severe than those of tobacco, but they try in any way to convey the message that ‘vaping’ is safe is wholly irresponsible.

Just like cigarettes, the liquid used in electronic smoking cessation tools contains nicotine. One of the most addictive substances known to mankind, nicotine has an array of detrimental effects on the body that are inflicted regardless of how the stuff is inhaled. It is a powerful stimulant that gets to work on the body’s central nervous system, it causes blood pressure to spike and also puts additional strain on the heart.

Vaping may cut out some of the chemicals and toxins tobacco contains – other harmful elements remain present, which in some cases are even stronger in concentration.

Now, this wouldn’t be the end of the world if e-cigarettes were responsibly marketed toward and used by a proactive adult audience only. Quite to the contrary however, what we’ve instead been bombarded with is an endless array of brightly colored packages with cute and cuddly graphics, the kinds of celebrity endorsements guaranteed to sway the impressionable and a range of flavors that never fail to make the mouths of preteens water. From bubblegum to candy-floss to gummy bear and more, it’s pretty impossible to deny the direct and thus dangerous appeal such sweet vaping liquids have in the eyes of youngsters.

The only realistic solution to what’s already an epidemic is for the FDA to step in and intensify its efforts to better control and restrict access to both the devices themselves and their respective liquids. As it stands, 38 states have made it illegal to supply minors with such product, but the fact that there are still so many states to follow suits is quite frankly astonishing. And even in states where the ban has been enforced, it’s proving ridiculous easy for kids to pick up liquid refills and electronic devices from pretty much anywhere.

Stopping kids from accessing the devices is only one stage of the solution – the other is to stop making the damn things look cool, elegant, sophisticated and downright delicious. They’re none of the above – they’re dangerously addictive habit-formers that technically serve no positive purpose at all, other than for those already facing an expensive and deadly nicotine addiction.

How can we keep letting the e-cigarette giants get way with duping the nation into once again thinking there’s no harm in smoking?

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