How dangerous are newer tobacco products to our health?

Many studies/statistics prove the dangers of smoking, placing it at the top of the causes for cardiovascular events, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and many other diseases.

Although there are many awareness campaigns to stop smoking, a very large proportion of the population, including young people and teenagers, choose to smoke and follow newer trends in smoking that are considered less “harmful”.

Many smokers choose so-called “light”, “mild” or “lowtar” cigarettes because they consider these cigarettes to be more “safe” for their health than regular cigarettes. But tar and nicotine exposure from a light cigarette can be just as high as a regular cigarette, depending on how the smoker inhales the smoke. Therefore, tobacco products of this kind are as serious a health risk as regular cigarettes.

Electronic devices

Newer smoking devices are “electronic nicotine inhalers” or “electronic cigarettes”, which are not considered tobacco products, as they do not contain tobacco but only nicotine. These devices heat a solution (e-liquid) in order to create an aerosol, which is then inhaled by the user. E-cigarettes vary in how they produce toxic substances and deliver nicotine due to differences in design, battery power, control circuitry, and the ability to modify and adapt to use substances other than vaping. nicotine.

Electronic cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes known as e-cigs, e-hookahs, mods, vape pens, vapes – particularly popular among young people and teenagers, possibly for economic reasons but also for the variety of flavors, have been shown to have a direct impact on the lungs causing even life-threatening lung diseases, such as acute lung injury, interstitial lung diseases such as organizing pneumonia, acute eosinophilic pneumonia, etc., pleural effusion, nicotine poisoning, cardiovascular events, even coughing or asthma exacerbation, while the long-term effects in terms of carcinogenesis and the effects of passive smoking remain to be studied. There are other dangers inherent in the devices themselves when an explosion occurs resulting in personal injury and burns.

Heated tobacco products

An alternative way of smoking is heated tobacco products (HTP) that produce aerosols and contain nicotine and other additives. TPCs mimic the smoking behavior of conventional cigarettes. They heat the tobacco to produce nicotine, using battery-powered heating systems. TPCs heat the tobacco, through a heating system enclosed in a device, to 350°C (lower than 600°C in conventional cigarettes). The heating device works with a battery and the user, through the special mouthpiece, inhales at intervals in order to receive a quantity of the aerosol, which is then transferred through the mouth to the body.

Heated tobacco products that are considered the most “innocent” contain chemicals that are not found in cigarette smoke and may have negative health effects. More than 20 harmful and potentially harmful chemicals show significantly higher reference values ​​in STPs than conventional cigarettes. Specifically, 22 harmful or potentially harmful substances in heated tobacco products were more than 200% higher than the prices in conventional cigarettes, while for 7 substances the percentage exceeded 1,000%. Independent studies have shown that heated tobacco products emit significant levels of specific carcinogens (nitrosamines, acetaldehyde) or probable carcinogens (formaldehyde, acrylamide), as well as other toxic and irritating ingredients.

Newer tobacco products have been presented as a transitional step in smoking cessation. But not only do they not help but many smokers end up using both newer and conventional tobacco products. While, on the other hand, those who start “alternative” have a significant chance of switching to traditional cigarettes.

Therefore, by presenting the alternative smoking products as harmless or less harmful, young people are more easily encouraged to smoke.
It is also too early to draw conclusions about the safety and long-term effects of alternative smoking methods. What should never cross our minds is that there is safe smoking. “Anything foreign to the lungs, hurts.”