The Electronic cigarettes do not constitute a gateway to tobacco among young people, according to researchers at Cardiff University (UK). British scientists are dismissing the fears of health experts, who worried that the boom in vaping could normalize the idea of smoking in this population, as concluded by previous studies.
Their investigation, published in the journal Tobacco Control on April 1 ultimately suggests that the growing use of e-cigarettes has not led more British children to start smoking. However, their real consequences on health are nonetheless dangerous.
No “renormalization” of tobacco
Data from nearly 250,000 children aged 13-15 in England, Wales and Scotland were collected between 1998 and 2015. And their analysis shows that the percentage of young people who have smoked at least once has dropped from 60 to 19% across the Channel in seventeen years. The share of regular smokers has decreased from 19% to 5%.
Opinion about tobacco has also continued to deteriorate. In 2015, only 27% of adolescents considered it acceptable to try cigarettes, compared to 70% in the 1990s. More specifically, at the time when vaping took off (2011-2015), the decline in use and the image of cigarettes has hardly slowed down either. This new phenomenon would not therefore have “renormalized” tobacco. The study also points out that, during the same period, cannabis and alcohol consumption also declined.
But more and more use
However, it is true that the experiment of the electronic cigarette – of which it is recalled, liquids contain nicotine – is becoming more and more popular among young Britons who have never used tobacco, indicates the study. Their regular use remains rare.
In the United States, on the other hand, the use of electronic cigarettes by young people “Has reached epidemic proportion”, reported Scott Gottlieb, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He was even considering banning several American companies from the marketing of their flavored products, fearing a “New generation of nicotine addicts”. Because across the Atlantic this time around, adolescents are now more likely to be “vapers” than smokers.
Yet vaping is not without threat either. It would expose to cardiac risks, would promote mouth infections, damage the lungs, weaken the immune system …
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