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Savanna Dodd

ENG 1201

Dylan Colvin

12 April 2020

Is Vaping Bad for Your Body?

For many years people have been smoking cigarettes and using tobacco products. Then

all of a sudden the use of tobacco products decreased dramatically in the past couple of years for

what reason? The reason is vaping and e-cigarettes. These devices have had a giant impact all

over the world but why? Many people all around the world have quit smoking and started vaping

because it is said to be a healthier and better alternative than the use of tobacco products, but is it

really healthier for you? That’s the question that no one really knows and yet more and more

people are starting to vape everyday, and it’s just not to help quit smoking. Teenagers and young

adults are also starting to vape without knowing the effects of vaping. Vaping has harmful

chemicals in it that can affect everyone. Vaping is bad for a person based on the age people are

vaping at, the long and short term effects, and what nicotine does to the human body.

For someone to vape they would need an e-cigarette, but what exactly is an e-cigarette?

According to the article “ E-cigarette: Facts” it says that an e-cigarette is a device that works by

heating up liquid, which is called e-liquid, to a high temperature so that it makes a vapor that you

can inhale (2019, para. 1). When e-cigarettes, also called vapes, first became popular they looked

like a real cigarette because it was targeting smokers and trying to get them to quit, but now e-

cigarettes can look like anything, for example a popular vaping company JUUL sells e-cigarettes

that look like flash drives. There are said to be three generations of e-cigarettes. According to the

article “ Vaping: Is It Bad For You?” First generation e-cigarettes were electronic and looked
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like e-cigarettes, second generation e-cigarettes looked like small hookahs and vape pens, and

now third generation e-cigarettes are rechargeable, have a longer battery life, and many different

options ( Fletcher para. 7). There are many different types of shapes and sizes. Some e-

cigarettes, or vapes, you either just have to refill them or throw them away when you are done,

but why are these e-cigarettes and vapes so intriguing to the younger population? It is intriguing

because vape companies are filling up the e-cigarettes with e-liquids that have many different

flavors. The e-liquid is what contains the nicotine in the vapes and e-cigarettes. Many companies

all over the world have flavors that intrigue teenagers and young adults and make them want to

try these flavors. For example there are candy, desert, fruity, minty, and plenty more flavors that

seem interesting. This is why e-cigarettes and vapes have become so popular in the past couple

of years and why the younger population of people vaping is increasing dramatically

Growing up when I was younger my dad was a heavy smoker. He was always smoking

and it would smell horrible. Once vaping became popular he switched over to that, but at the

time I didn’t think much of it and I was happy he had stopped smoking. He told me he switched

over to vaping because it is better for you but looking at it now it may not be. Now I am

currently a junior in highschool and vaping has been very popular since I was a freshman, and

the amount of people in my school vaping has been increasing every year. It has gotten so bad

that so many teenagers that I know and go to my school are so addicted to them that they have to

take their vape devices to school and use them in the bathrooms. I even know of some

highschools in Ohio that are getting vape detectors in school because it has gotten to that much

of an extreme. Many highschool students and young adults don’t even know how vaping will

affect them because it isn’t taught in the school health class. They just do it because it is “cool”

and if everyone is doing then so should they. Being around people who vape all the time opened
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my eyes to how oblivious people are about knowing they are putting in their body and made me

want to learn about it to help educate them. This shows why people think it's better than smoking

cigarettes and why teenagers and young adults continue to vape every single day even at school.

The amount of teenagers and vaping is increasing everyday and they don’t even know

anything about e-cigarettes they just do for many reasons. According to the article “Nicotine” in

The Encyclopedia of Drugs, teenagers and young adults start vaping because their friends and

family vape or smoke, have seen advertisements for it in magazines and on TV, want to fit in

with others, rebelion, and personal issues (134-139). Also according to the article “ E-cigarettes:

Facts” talks about a study they did which included middle school and high school students that

reported that 43% of them tried e-cigarettes and vapes because of the e-liquids that were

appealing flavors (para. 22). This shows why teenagers and young adults want to or start vaping

and why they think it's okay.

The amount of teenagers and young adults is increasing so dramatically that now middle

school kids are starting to join in as well. According to the article “ E-cigarette: Facts” it says, “

In 2017, 11% of high school students had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days. By 2018, that

number had risen to 21% and by 2019, 27.5% of high school students had used e-cigarettes in the

past month”. As for middle school kids it says, “ The current rate among middle schoolers rose

from .6% in 2011 to 10.5% in 2019” ( para. 20 ). That’s a 16.5% increase for high school

students and a 9.9% increase for middle schools students. For young adults, the article “E-

cigarette: Facts” says, “ Like youth, young aged 18-24 are also using e-cigarettes at increasing

rates. Young adult use of e-cigarettes every day or some days increased from 2.4% in 2012 and

2013 to 5.2% in 2017, and increased again to 7.6% in 2018 based on a recent analysis” (para. 23)
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Although young adults aren't increasing as rapidly as teenagers they are still increasing every

year at an alarming rate.

Vaping is still so new that scientists still don’t know the long and short term effects. It

isn’t like tobacco products that have been around for hundreds of years. E-cigarettes are fairly

new and use different chemicals that can harm people. Like I said before scientists really don’t

know the effects but there are some ideas of what they are. One of the main chemicals that

causes problems in the body is nicotine. The article “Nicotine” in the Encyclopedia of Drugs

says, “They depend on the amount of nicotine given, the route of administration, the time over

which the dose is given, and the individual's history of exposure to nicotine. In high doses,

nicotine produces nausea, vomiting, convulsions, muscle paralysis, cessation of breathing, coma,

and circulatory collapse” it also says that people who use products with nicotine, “They include a

speed up in heart rate and blood pressure” (134-139). The diagram below also explains and

shows some more effects.

Fig. 1. Jeffery Buckley; “Side Effects of Vaping”; 21 April 2017, https://vapingdaily.com/what-

is-vaping/vaping-side-effects/; digital image.

These are just some side effects that are common with nicotine and vaping.

There are more side effects as well that also includes how old you are, especially for

teenagers and young adults. In the article “Smoking and Tobacco Use” it talks about how the
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human brain isn’t fully developed until around the age twenty-five and nicotine can harm the

young developing brain. It can harm the parts of the brain that control learning, impulse, and

attention. This could also lead to the risk of an addiction to nicotine or other substances ( para.

5). Also in the article “Is Vaping Bad for You” it says when teenagers and young adults start

using products in nicotine for a long amount of time it can start to evolve into a dependence on

nicotine or vaping (Fletcher, para. 2). Also the article “E-cigarettes: Facts” talks about how

tennagers are so dependent on it that they need it right when they wake up and are unable to

concentrate in class because of their addiction( para. 8). This shows how vaping can affect kids,

teenagers, and young adults.

There are even more harmful effects that include the heart, lungs, teeth and gums. In the

article “Is vaping bad for you” it talks about all of these three things. For the heart there was a

recent study which notes that vaping could cause circulation problems, heart attacks, heart

disease, and strokes. This is still all to be determined with more research. For the lungs there was

a study that was released in 2018 that found out that vaping is just as bad as smoking cigarettes.

They found this out by using rats and notes that long term use can cause a lot of lung damage.

For the teeth and gums there was a study in 2016 that discovered that people who vape have a

higher chance of getting a gum and jawbone disease ( Fletcher, para. 4-6).

The side effects of vaping are established but there is a reason why it is so harmful. The

reason is because of the chemicals in the e-liquid. There are many chemicals in the e-liquid

including nicotine, but what exactly is nicotine. In the article “ Nicotine” from the Encyclopedia

of Drugs it says, “ This is a psychoactive chemical substance found in tobacco products” (134).

This means that nicotine is a drug that affects the mind and brain. Also there is more nicotine in
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e-liquid then there is in one pack of cigarettes, and the more nicotine the more harmful is to a

person. This is one bad chemical found in e-cigarettes and vaping but there are plenty more.

There are so many bad chemicals in e-liquid that no one really knows about because

people just think of nicotine and that is it but that’s not the case. According to the article “What

is an E-Cigarette” from the American Lung Association there are around 8 other chemicals that

are bad for you not including nicotine. Benzene is one of the chemicals and is found in car

exhaust and isn’t good for you when inhaled into the lungs. Another chemical is propylene

glycol. This chemical is more common in foods but is also in things like paint solvent, artificial

smoke, and antifreeze. Some more chemicals are carcinogens, acrolein, and diacetyl.

Carcinogens are most known because they are said to cause cancer. Acrolein is used to kill

weeds and when put into the lungs can cause really bad damage to them that can't be fixed. A

couple more chemicals are diethylene glycol and cadmium. Diethylene glycol is also found in

antifreeze and is found in lung problems like lung disease. Cadmium is a metal found in normal

cigarettes and also causes breathing problems like some of the other chemicals (2). All these

chemicals including nicotine are bad for the lungs, brain, and human body in general and

shouldn’t be used at all.

Even though there are all these side effects and bad chemicals that come with vaping and

what’s inside them some people still believe that vaping and e-cigarettes are still better for you

than smoking normal cigarettes. Personally I only know one person who quit smoking and

started vaping and that is my dad so I decided to interview him to see what his thoughts were on

everything. I was talking to my dad and told him I was writing about vaping and how the

chemicals in them were bad for you and he fully disagreed with me. I continued to talk to him

and he said to me, “ I have been vaping for how many years now and I haven’t had a single
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problem with vaping, it hasn’t made me feel sick and hasn’t affected me in any way ” (Dodd). I

then continued to tell him about what I found, that scientists still don’t know the full extent of the

long term effects and he said, “It doesn’t matter, when I smoked I felt horrible and now that I’m

vaping my body feels better and I’m not coughing” (Dodd). I really had nothing to say back to

him after he said that so I decided to end the conversation there and do some more research.

Although my father had his own opinion I wanted to see what scientists had to say about

it. In the article “ Is Vaping a Source for Good” it talks about how scientists still believe e-

cigarettes are bad for you but they agreed that it’s far better for a person than normal cigarettes

( Gebelhoff, para. 6). Also in the article “ Is Vaping Bad for You” it talks about recent studies

that were found. A study that was posted in 2019 did an experiment and found out that there

wasn’t a huge difference is the lungs of people who vaped and the lungs of someone who didn’t

vape or smoke (Fletcher, para. 4-6). This shows the other side of research and the effects of

vaping.

Overall vaping and e-cigarettes are still bad for you. The age a person does it at is

harmful to the developing brain and could cause addiction issues. The effects are bad for you

even though some of them are still undetermined, and the chemicals in e-liquid are bad for the

human body. Although some health experts say vaping is better for a person I recommend that

everyone should learn about vaping before deciding to start, especially teenagers and young

adults.

Works Cited

Buckley, Jeffrey. “Side Effects of Vaping.” Side Effects of Vaping, Vaping Daily, 21 Apr.
2017, https://vapingdaily.com/what-is-vaping/vaping-side-effects/

Dodd, David. (2020, March 29). Personal interview.

“E-Cigarettes: Facts, Stats and Regulations.” Truth Initiative, Truth Initiative, 11 Nov.
2019, truthinitiative.org/research-resources/emerging-tobacco-products/e-cigarettes-facts-
stats-and-regulations.

Fletcher, Jenna. “Is Vaping Bad for You?” Medical News Today, MediLexicon
International, 20 Dec. 2019, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327374.

Gebelhoff, Robert. "Is vaping a source for good or for evil? Both." Washingtonpost.com,
19 Feb. 2020. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link-gale-
com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/A614321071/OVIC?
u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=a757227e. Accessed 27 Feb. 2020.

"Nicotine." Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol & Addictive Behavior, edited by Pamela

“Quick Facts on the Risks of E-Cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults.” Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3 Feb.
2020, www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/Quick-Facts-on-the-Risks-of-
E-cigarettes-for-Kids-Teens-and-Young-Adults.html.