Vapers have come to our lives as an alternative to tobacco. Many think it is a healthier alternative, but it hides great dangers.
It seems less and less strange to meet people in the streets emanating large smokes of white steam from strange metal gadgets or other materials. They are the so-called vapers, who seem to have come to stay. You just have to look at our celebrities. Leonardo Dicaprio, Katy Perry, who seems to have all the vices and all diseases, or Samuel L Jackson do not take off from his device either in the sun or in the shade.
The fans use their usefulness as an intermediate step to stop smoking tobacco, or argue the "theory of lesser evil." That is to say, that smoking the steam produced by these devices, also known as e-cigars among the initiated, is less harmful than inhaling the smoke of normal tobacco, which of all is known for its hundreds of toxic and carcinogenic substances, something that has It has been recognized even by WHO, but its long-term carcinogenic effects are unknown.
Electronic cigarettes vaporize liquids with different flavors, some without nicotine, but most with the presence of this substance, in different concentrations. Therefore they keep their addiction power intact. The idea of people who defend its use is that by decreasing nicotine concentrations progressively it can be eliminated, causing dependence on this substance to disappear.
These devices and the vapors that emanate appear to be not as harmless as they are presented to us. In the US all alarms are triggered. In recent months they have entered health centers in different states such as Wisconsin or Illinois, among others, more than 300 people with strange lung diseases related to electronic cigarettes. Some of them have required admission to the ICU and at the moment six people have died.
Beyond cancer
Lung diseases are not limited to cancer. Pneumonia, pneumonitis - inflammation of the lung from different substances - respiratory distress - a disease in which the lung does not exchange oxygen properly - can be life-threatening, and indeed they have been in these cases. The cause of this outbreak is unknown, which affects mainly young patients, but according to local health authorities, it is getting closer to knowing it. It seems that in the US some people smoke marijuana or derivatives or artisanal liquids, without any control. Some components of liquids, such as vitamin E acetate, are also being studied.
Although in our country the custom of making artisanal liquids or with substances such as marijuana should not be so widespread, for now, how long will this fashion take to reach us? In the culture of globalization and the Internet probably very little time. I personally think to ask all my patients with lung diseases if they vape. Doctors always ask patients if they smoke, but see what we have seen, we will have to add new issues to the background, maybe we get a surprise.
Prohibition
On the other hand, in the country of stars and stripes, it is being studied to ban liquids with flavors, something that the Trump administration will carry out in the coming weeks. It has been shown that aggressive marketing campaigns induce adolescents to start using them as a bridge to tobacco. In some cities such as San Francisco, the sale of these devices has been banned. As in many other aspects, in the American country, they take advantage. We should learn from their mistakes and anticipate them before repeating them in Europe.
The consumption of electronic cigarettes has increased from seven million in 2011 to more than 35 million in the world, according to the latest statistics. There are no data on the consumption of these devices in Spain, but as the popular wisdom says: "when you see the beards of your neighbor peel put yours to soak".
