Electronic Cigarettes Essay

1422 Words6 Pages

Although the effort to try and eliminate conventional smoking for good is obvious, the way some people go about this elimination is not as safe as they want to think. Among the abundant ways these people have tried to disregard the fateful habit of cigarette smoking, the one that has shown up progressively more throughout the years is the electronic cigarette. Since the electronic cigarette does not use burning tobacco as a means of getting their dose of nicotine, the unconventional cigarette is hailed as being much safer by several unknowing minds. While the electronic cigarette could be useful for stopping the use of the conventional cigarette, the damage this unconventional cigarette is capable of can be even greater than a regular cigarette …show more content…

The devices "[appear] promising as cessation aids because e-cigarettes … deliver nicotine in [a] manner in which nicotine replacement therapy does" (Pokhrel e58). They believe that because electronic cigarettes do not dispense nicotine to a smoker through burning, but instead through evaporation of nicotine-containing liquids, this unconventional cigarette is healthier for you than a regular cigarette. However, these nicotine-containing liquids have produced "formaldehyde-containing hemiacetals, … which can be formed during the e-cigarette ‘vaping’ process." In other words, during the vaporization of the nicotine-containing liquids, and with a high enough voltage, the seemingly-harmless electronic cigarette reacts with certain chemicals to produce formaldehyde. The problem with the production of formaldehyde is that it can be cancer-causing, and the lifetime cancer risk of electronic cigarettes is at least five times higher and up to fifteen times higher than the lifetime cancer risk of conventional cigarettes (Jensen 392-393). If people who are trying to stop smoking knew how much damage they would do to their bodies if they started using the electronic cigarette, they would find a healthier way to destroy the