It is no secret that this generation of young adults is heavily affected by vaping.
Big tobacco companies have lost a lot of money due to younger generations not smoking cigarettes. Those companies created a new plan to cater to young people by adding fruity flavors and paying social media influencers to promote vapes.
According to the National Institutes of Health, e-cigarettes were developed by a Chinese pharmacist in 2003 and came to America in 2007.
Vaping is a relatively new method of smoking, so there is little research on short-term effects and even less on long-term effects. As a result, people starting as young as middle school get hooked, and are not able to give up their addiction and carry it with them all the way into adulthood.
According to Dr. Robert Shmerling, a member of Harvard Health Publishing, vaping not only leads to lung cancer and popcorn lung, a rare condition that results from damage to the lungs’ small airways, but it also affects the brain development of young people. Some elements that are in vapes include nicotine, vitamin E, diacetyl, and heavy metals such as nickel, tin and lead.
Many young adults recognize the issue not only for themselves but see how it has a negative effect on others. Vaping has gotten so out of control that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has claimed it is an epidemic among young people.
When asked about vaping, Ramon Aguilar, a student at Grossmont College, said: “Vaping is especially harmful to our generation as our brains still have not reached full development… making vaping and smoking more harmful as it lowers the individuals overall potential.”
The vaping epidemic may not show its true damage to this generation until it is too late, especially as the damage seems present already.
