E-cigarette does not help to quit smoking and encourages addiction

Created in the early 2000s, the e-cigarette was intended to reduce nicotine dependence, but it backfired. According to experts, the device, also known as a vape, does not help to quit smoking and even encourages new smokers.

Sold as a product that is less harmful to health, its main consumers are young people, seduced by the flavors available and the practicality it offers.

The Covitel report (Telephone Survey of Risk Factors for Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases in Pandemic Times), carried out in January, February and March of this year by the Vital Strategies organization and the UFPel (Federal University of Pelotas), revealed that 19, 7% of Brazilians aged between 18 and 24 have already tried electronic cigarettes. That is, one in five young people in the country has used or uses the device.

The AMB (Brazilian Medical Association) estimates that 650 thousand people are users of electronic cigarettes in Brazil. However, they are illegal in the country.

In 2009, Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) banned the sale, import and advertising of electronic cigarettes. Ten years later, the body opened discussion for a possible update of the Resolution.

At the beginning of May 2022, representatives of 50 medical entities released a document with information about the evils of these devices and positioned themselves in favor of the ban.

Wagner Ferreira, 26, from São Paulo, started smoking regular cigarettes at age 13, but ended up migrating to electronics. “I stopped for a while, but then I came back when I was 22. More recently, I started to smoke electronics along with conventional”, he says.

Unlike conventional, which burns by combustion, vapes work by vaporization. They contain a liquid that is heated and generates the vapor drawn in by the user. What makes it practical is refilling, which allows you to keep the same device for years.

The so-called Electronic Smoking Devices as we know them today were created in 2003 by Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist who was looking for a way to quit smoking after losing his father to lung cancer.

“It was born with the promise of simulating nicotine dependence in a lighter and, theoretically, less toxic way for people to be able to leave the addiction. But in practice this did not happen”, says oncologist Igor Morbeck, member of the Scientific Committee of the Institute. Side by Side for Life.

This is because, contrary to what most people believe, electronic cigarettes do have nicotine in their composition. Cardiologist Jaqueline Scholz, scientific advisor at Socesp (São Paulo State Cardiology Society), explains that, initially, the load of the substance provided by these devices was actually lower.

“But the current ones, belonging to the third and fourth generation, are more powerful. People are even able to exchange the conventional for the electronic one, but they do not stop smoking”, warns the expert. The experts consulted by Sheet emphasize that there is not enough scientific evidence to show that these devices help with nicotine weaning in the treatment of chemical dependence.

However, they have the advantage of not containing tar and carbon monoxide, which would be responsible, in the original product, for causing heart attacks and tumors. But that doesn’t mean DEFs aren’t harmful.

Scholz warns of other toxic substances present in the vape liquid. “In addition to nicotine, it is composed of ultrafine particles of heavy metals, high concentration of nickel, aromatic elements, glycerol and other additives. This interaction even forms new unknown substances.”

This set has an inflammatory capacity that causes problems for respiratory and cardiovascular health, favoring hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart attack and even death. In 2019, a new respiratory syndrome, which caused pulmonary fibrosis, pneumonia and respiratory failure, terrorized the United States amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

As of January 2020, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the US government) had recorded 2,711 hospitalized cases and, as of February, 68 deaths had been confirmed in the country. After several analyses, they detected that the disease, named Evali (electronic cigarette-induced lung injury, in Portuguese), was related to the use of the device.

Conventional smoking also causes respiratory and cardiac problems, but what worries the medical community about vapes is the speed with which these events occur.

Scholz says that it takes about 20 years of exposure to cigarettes to notice the emergence of these disorders. “It’s even common to meet people who smoke all their lives and apparently are fine. But, with the use of electronic cigarettes, someone who has been using for three or four years already has these problems. It’s scary, “adds oncologist Morbeck.

Why are young people the main users of e-cigarettes?

Wagner says that he included vaping in his routine because of the practicality it offers, since he doesn’t have to light a filter and wait for it to burn completely, as is conventional. You can aspire little by little.

“It helps in situations where the common is more socially ‘accepted’. If you go to a party, it’s easier because you always have it on hand. Besides, it doesn’t smell. You can consume nicotine without bothering other people”, reports.

Psychiatrist André Malbergier, a professor at FM/USP (Faculty of Medicine at the University of São Paulo), says that this is not the only reason that makes vapers popular among younger people.

“Like any drug, the appeal is always greater in the young population. In general, even the liquids used show this, because they are flavors of tutti-frutti, mint, soda… This gives a false impression that cigarettes are only flavored, since that nicotine has no flavor”, says Malbergier.

The design of the devices also contributes to their popularity. With sizes that fit in the palm of the hand, they are known as flash drives because of their similar shape. Some are even printed.

A recent study by the University of San Diego, California, showed that people aged 12 to 24 who try e-cigarettes are three times more likely to become daily smokers than those who have never used the device.

“Society as a whole has to be aware of this product, which is not safe. Smoking is a disease and electronic cigarettes are not a treatment”, concludes cardiologist Scholz.