However, health authorities confirm that no tobacco product is safe for health. E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products contain nicotine and are still addictive products.
The level of toxicity is equivalent to traditional cigarettes.
According to the Ministry of Health, to hide the harshness of nicotine - a highly addictive substance, e-cigarette manufacturers use many types of flavorings such as: mint, apple, orange, lemon... This makes e-cigarettes more pleasant, easier to inhale and have an attractive taste, attracting users, especially young people. E-cigarettes also contain vitamin E acetate and THC - a stimulant of the nervous system contained in marijuana, which is believed to be an important factor causing thousands of cases of lung damage.
Meanwhile, heated tobacco is processed by a special process from regular cigarette materials (using paper, tobacco leaves or wood soaked with nicotine). The amount of nicotine, other ingredients and toxicity are not significantly different, equivalent to regular cigarettes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that there is no evidence in the world that e-cigarettes help people quit smoking conventional cigarettes. WHO also does not confirm that e-cigarettes are a “cessation aid”. In fact, young people who have never smoked conventional cigarettes but use e-cigarettes are 2-3 times more likely to become addicted to conventional cigarettes than those who have never used e-cigarettes.
* Using e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products can cause lung, heart and brain damage, especially in young people.
* Like regular cigarettes, heated tobacco and e-cigarettes emit toxic chemicals found in car exhaust and cancer-causing pesticides.
* Using e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products quickly causes nicotine addiction and makes it difficult to quit.World Health Organization (WHO)
At the Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, countries agreed that all tobacco products are harmful to health. The promotion that heated tobacco products contain fewer toxic chemicals than traditional cigarettes will mislead users about the harmful effects of heated tobacco products.
WHO calls on countries to avoid making unfounded conclusions about the safety of these products and to fully implement effective tobacco control measures under the Framework Convention, rather than resorting to new products that are marketed as less harmful. Parties should consider prioritizing measures to prevent the introduction of new tobacco products, including at the highest level of regulation.
Sharing about the current situation of e-cigarette use in Vietnam, Dr. Tran Van Thuan, Deputy Minister of Health, said: In the past three years, the number of people using e-cigarettes has been increasing. According to the research results conducted by the Institute of Health Strategy and Policy, Ministry of Health in 2020, the rate of e-cigarette use in 34 provinces and cities has increased 18 times compared to 2015, from only about 0.2% to 3.6%.
Notably, up to 8% of women and girls smoke e-cigarettes while the rate of cigarette smoking among women is only 1.2%. Smoking e-cigarettes among teenage girls, young adults, and women of reproductive age will cause consequences for reproductive health and quality of the race.
Many potential social and environmental risks
According to Dr. Tran Van Thuan, some surveys in the community of e-cigarette users clearly show the relationship between e-cigarette use and other social evils such as drugs, shisha smoking and other addictive substances.
E-cigarettes use many flavors and chemicals, so they can be exploited for drug use through mixing. Users can arbitrarily increase the nicotine ratio too much or add drugs and other addictive substances to use without being detected. The situation of mixing drugs into electronic solutions (Cannabis and Marijuana) has been recorded at the Poison Control Center of Bach Mai Hospital and the Drug Identification Center of the Institute of Criminal Science - Ministry of Public Security. These consequences have a negative impact on the health, environment, lifestyle, and behavior of young people.
More dangerously, these mixed drugs have infiltrated schools, families and threatened the lives and health of very young students. At the end of 2022, Bai Chay Hospital (Quang Ninh) also admitted 4 students (born in 2008) to the emergency room due to using e-cigarettes. Initial information was known that about an hour before being admitted to the hospital, the male students had used e-cigarettes, but the type and origin were unknown. Afterwards, the patients experienced dizziness, general discomfort, weakness, trembling hands and feet, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and frequent vomiting. The common cause was that the students had tried or inhaled e-cigarettes.
Another case is a 5-year-old boy in Hanoi who drank about 5ml of yellow e-cigarette liquid. 15 minutes later, he had convulsions, vomited, and fell into a coma. He was taken to the National Children's Hospital for emergency treatment. Test results showed that the boy was positive for ADB-BUTINACA, a new synthetic drug. After a few days of treatment, the boy was discharged from the hospital but still had to be closely monitored to avoid complications.
The results of the 2021-2022 survey on tobacco use among adolescents aged 13-15 by the Ministry of Health show that more than 60% of adolescents were given e-cigarettes by others; more than 20% bought them online and about 2% bought them from their classmates. The current ease of access to e-cigarettes while the Law does not have timely management regulations is the main reason for the increase in the number of users in Vietnam, especially young people who are easily attracted to new trends.
According to Dr. Ho Thi Hong, Dong Nai Province Disease Surveillance Center, in addition to the harmful effects on health such as causing cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive diseases... like regular cigarettes, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products also pose potential risks and give rise to social evils, negatively affecting the lifestyle of adolescents, and causing immediate and long-term harm to the environment.
Current e-cigarette products lack instructions for users on how to dispose of the product. According to a 2017 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and several other studies, two-thirds of cigarettes are thrown away; the cost of cleaning up discarded cigarettes alone is $11 billion, not to mention other environmental costs in the entire tobacco supply chain: planting trees, drying, etc. In addition, e-cigarette and heated tobacco devices have many components: plastic, batteries, circuit boards, solution bottles, etc. The process of dismantling, classifying, etc. for recycling, disposal, and destruction is complicated and costly. If discarded in broken or crushed form, toxic substances such as metals, acids, nicotine, etc. can be released into the environment.
Therefore, to protect your health as well as the health of those around you, and to protect the environment, people - especially teenagers - should practice a healthy lifestyle, know how to refuse temptations, say no to cigarettes and toxic products.
Some WHO recommendations to strengthen tobacco control:
- Increasing tobacco taxes is the most effective measure to reduce purchasing power to reduce tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco, especially among adolescents.
- It is necessary to build a smoke-free environment, paying special attention to public areas that young people often visit such as restaurants, shopping malls, and entertainment areas.
- Strengthen enforcement of comprehensive bans on advertising, promotion, and sponsorship in all forms.
- Strengthen management of tobacco sales to minors, prohibit tobacco sales in areas around schools, and especially prevent the increasing access and use of electronic cigarettes.
- Monitor and supervise tobacco use through survey tools and data monitoring.
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