Juul Smoking Problem
Jaylen Warren
11/7/19
English 1301-107
Mr. Travis
Synthesis Paper
Juul Smoking Problem
Vaping is a common thing that goes on in America, vapes appeared in stores a few years back and starting in 2018 a major e-cigarette by the name of “juul”, has been the most major e-cigarette especially among teenagers in high school and middle school. Smoking one pod out of the juul equals to a whole pack of cigarettes. The notion that e-cigarettes are not harmful is what has accelerated the issue of smoking. Many teenagers more than ever are now hooked on nicotine more than before including individuals who at first were not really smokers (Andrews). Researchers have attributed the increase in number of students using vapes to the cool buzz that is associated with it. Jull a leading manufacturer when it comes to e-cigarettes have constantly been accused of misleading people that e-cigarettes are “safe alternative smoking.” This paper looks at the dangers that e-cigarettes have posed including an increase in lung related injuries.
Since the introduction of e-cigarettes many people had been sold to the idea that vaping would actually be a safe choice instead of smoking packs of cigarettes. People begun purchasing this produce especially the Juul Lab USB-size vaporizer. In 2016, FDA decided that they would regulate e-cigarettes as part of tobacco product. This was already a red flag considering that most juul products were being said that they do not have tobacco. CDC has pointed out the concern that they have for the e-cigarettes pointing out that there have been 2290 cases of lung related damage from people who were using vapes. With the increase in number of deaths as well as lung related injuries, CDC were quick to point out that the vapes were not safe and people needed to stay away from them until the vapes are certified as safe to use. There are symptoms that have been associated with the use of vapes leading to decline in health including chest pains, coughing, and difficulty in breathing. Out of the 380 plus cases that have been reported, six have resulted in death.
There are several reasons to why many people have embraced vapes and why number of people using e-cigarettes keep on rising daily. Some individuals have turned into vaping as a means to quit traditional cigarettes. Traditional cigarettes have been demonized that they have too much negative impacts including lung damage while vaping has been said to have very little effect to a person’s health. There are arguments that nicotine is quite addictive and habituating effects. Nicotine can be calming especially under stress as well as helping with concentration and thus most who were cigarettes addicts finds these as a much safer option. Another reason is because of social image. Many vape smokers do it because their friends are doing so and it appears to be cool (Manolis, 67-70).
It’s important to understand why vaping has caused a craze with all adults coming up with suggestions on the best way that the issue can be dealt with. Nicotine is a primary content that is found in the vapes and has been shown to cause an increase in certain diseases such as stroke, diabetes, lung cancer and heart disease. The vape liquids also contain additives including glycerol and propylene glycol (Carlos, pg. 13-14). These toxic chemicals have been identified to cancer and other respiratory diseases. Researchers have also raised concerns on a chemical used in flavoring of the vape juice s it may cause a condition referred to as popcorn lung. This is the scarring as well as the obstruction of lungs’ airways. CDC reported that vitamin E acetate that is also added to the vapes may contributing to the lung related issues. A test was conducted on the lung fluid from the outlets thought to have lung related issues from the vape and vitamin E acetate was present. The Department of Health have requested companies not to vend products that contain vitamin E acetate till more research is conducted to determine health risk of these additives.
Juul Labs have disputed these statistics and stood their ground that their product is safe to use as their advertisement still continue on how vaping is a better option even for people who would like to quit smoking at some point. Although Juul makes billions of dollars, young kids in high school and college don’t pay any mind to the health risks that come with smoking the juul or any e-cigarette, kids smoke these e-cigarettes just to fit in or be cool with the crowd that they are in and it is sad that this is the type of society we live in, especially with our younger generation (Pascus). Lawsuits are happening to this very day, stating the Juul company preyed on the younger generation, with ad’s and by putting in younger teens heads that smoking Juul’s gave them a “sense of belonging” in the society. Juul started to close everything down in the past year, by suspending flavored pod’s, and cutting down the use of ads on their social media accounts, but critics state that them doing that was a little too late, the use of juul with high school kids jumped from 11.7% in 2017 to 20.8% in 2018. Among those of have sued Juul Lab for the misleading advertisement includes the New York attorney general Letitia James claiming the company was using deceptive methods in their advertisement and more so targeting teenagers who are more vulnerable.
One reason why people bought the idea of using vapes and stopping the use of smoking as the belief that traditional cigarettes had more nicotine than the e-cigarettes, however, the e-cigarettes have higher nicotine level than traditional cigarettes. In a bid to help rescue the youths several measures have been put in place. Age limits have been set in certain states on what age a person can purchase e-cigarettes to be 21. In April 2018 an initiative by FDA commissioner Scott Gottlich announced a creation of Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan whose role was to stop the increasing number of students taking tobacco. There have been black markets enabling purchase of vapes after FDA ban including eBay and Craigslist. FDA has contacted eBay to take down listings selling vapes. Many know that the youths tend to prefer flavored pods and are among the highest sold. If FDA do not put an end to all these an increase in number of users using Juul products will continue to increase and so will the lung related issues increase leading to even more death (Cai).
In conclusion, vaping manufacturers have been able to appeal to more young consumers to use vapes because they term it a safer option. These advertisement makes it cool but they do not indicate that these too can be addictive as they contain nicotine and also THC a very addictive product. As a cooperate company continues to make millions, there are innocent youths whose health have deteriorated for engaging in something that was termed a safe and better option. FDA needs to be stricter on the regulations that are in place and ban or even penalize companies that use deceptive advertisements to attract the youth into using vapes.
Works Cited
Andrews, Travis. “CDC: Roughly Tenfold Increase in Use of e-Cigarettes by Teens in Just 4 Years.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Apr. 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/15/cdc-report-roughly-tenfold-increase-in-use-of-e-cigarettes-by-high-school-and-middle-school-students-in-just-4-years/.
Cai, Kenrick. “Teen’s Two-Pod A Day Juul Addiction Caused Massive Stroke, Lawsuit Says.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 19 July 2019, http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2019/07/18/teen-two-pod-a-day-juul-addiction-caused-massive-stroke-lawsuit-vaping-e-cigarettes/#6a782c806ace.
Carlos, W. Graham, et al. “Vaping-associated pulmonary illness (VAPI).” American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 200.7 (2019): P13-P14.
Manolis, Antonis S., and Theodora A. Manolis. “Vaping and Puffing: Know your Risks/Your Life is in Danger.” Rhythmos 14.4 (2019): 67-70.
Pascus, Brian. “E-Cigarette Giant Juul Accused of Marketing to Teens in New Lawsuit.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/e-cigarette-giant-juul-accused-of-marketing-to-teens-in-new-lawsuit/.
