Pros Of E-Cigarettes

Cigarettes were first introduced to the United States during the early 19th century, but tobacco was used as early as the 1600’s. Cigarettes started getting popular during World War I, when Army surgeons claimed cigarettes helped the wounded relax and ease their pain (“Smoking & Tobacco Use”). Since then, the tobacco industry has been booming in business and in 2014, the use of cigarettes in the United States was an estimated 40 million adults (“Smoking & Tobacco Use”). However, in the past couple of years, teens and adults has started the trend with the use of e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are electronic cigarettes that include batteries and replaceable liquid cartridges for repeated use and do not use tobacco. Instead, e-cigarettes deliver the addictive drug, nicotine, to a user’s lungs by using a heating element to heat e-liquid from the refillable cartridge and release a chemical-filled aerosol (“E-cigarettes and Lung Health”). The e-cigarettes have become very popular in teens and adults who are trying to quit smoking. There has been controversy over the claim that e-cigarettes are a safer and efficient substitution for smokers to quit their cigarette-smoking habits. The Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights organization provides a list of facts about the secondhand aerosol (vapor) that is released in to the environment by the e-cigarette user, which counter the claim that e-cigarettes are safe because of the toxins, particles, and carcinogens that were found in the aerosol exhaled through e-cigarettes (“Electronic Smoking Devices”). Although e-cigarettes are not the healthiest alternative for smokers, e-cigarettes obtain fewer toxins, are cheaper, and do not leave distinct smells or messes like regular cigarettes. Therefore, cigarette smokers should consider the use of e-cigarettes rather than regular cigarettes. Many people believe that e-cigarettes are safe and have very few toxic chemicals that are inhaled and exhaled by the user, but recent research has proven otherwise. E-cigarette aerosol has been proven to have some dangerous chemicals to secondhand bystanders, but is less dangerous than cigarette smoke (American Cancer Society). Some of the chemical carcinogens found in e-cigarette aerosol are acetaldehyde, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, isoprene, lead, nickel, toluene, diethylene glycol, and N-nitrosonornicotine (“Electronic Smoking Devices”). The vapor also contains and emits propylene glycol, which can cause symptoms such as eye, throat, and airway irritation, along with developing asthma. Nicotine is the main substance in e-cigarettes, which is what is supposed to help users quit smoking cigarettes and turn to e-cigarettes. Nicotine is not a safe drug and can negatively impact the development of an adolescent brain. Because e-cigarettes are still new and have only been on the market for several years, there is much more research that needs to be done in order to compare the health effects (mostly long term effects) between e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes (“E-cigarettes and Lung Health”). Cigarettes contain about 600 ingredients, and the smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, most of which are produced by the burning of tobacco, and more than 60 of the chemicals were proven to cause cancer (American Cancer Society). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim that cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States and account for 1 of every 5 deaths (“Smoking and Tobacco Use”). Smoking cigarettes is responsible for 90% of lung cancer deaths, and it is proven to harm almost every organ in the body, whereas e-cigarette smokers are limited to harming their respiratory tract (“Health Effects of Smoking”). It is true that both seem to have serious health effects, but the effects of smoking e-cigarettes are less dangerous than the …show more content…
Even though e-cigarettes may have toxins and carcinogens, there are less present in e-cigarette aerosol than in cigarette smoke because of the tobacco being burned. The average savings can be over $1,500 a year for a chronic cigarette smoker, which is beneficial in the long run. Also, the cleanliness of e-cigarettes is greater than cigarettes because of the absence of ash and the tobacco smell that loiters on each smoker. E-cigarettes may not be a healthy on a persons’ body, but it is a safer alternative to smoking regular cigarettes. Although e-cigarettes are not beneficial to the body and lungs, the consequences are less harmful than regular