Welcome to my new post in Health series,where I will be dealing on a very new and challenging topic"Electronic-Cigarette(e-Cigarette)"
Introduction
e-Cigarette is a handheld electronic device, often made to look like conventional cigarette that tries to bring the feeling of tobacco smoking.It works by heating a liquid which generate an aerosol called vapor.The user inhale these as a substitute for Cigarette.It is also known as e-cigs,electronic nicotine delivery system or electronic non-nicotine delivery system.The liquid used in e-Cigarette(e-liquid) is made of Nicotine,Propylene glycol,Glycerin and different other flavors as diacetyl,heavy metals etc.The potential health risk of e-Cigarette is not known,but it is considered as a best substitute for Cigarette used by smokers as it helps them to quit cigarette.
The trial has shown that it can't be used as substitute for Cigarette by the beginners,since it has high propensity to cause nicotine addiction.Apart from it, no serious side effects have been recorded.Some of the self limiting side effects are throat irritation,nausea,vomiting,coughing,gastric intolerance.
History
The pioneer of e-Cigarette was Herbert A. Gilbert.In 1963,he patented "a smokeless non-tobacco cigarette" that replaced burning tobacco and paper with heated,moist,flavored air.Since smoking was a fashion at that time,Gilbert invention couldn't be commercialized.
Later in 2001,another initiative was taken by Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist in the invention of e-Cigarette.Actually Lik quit cigarette after his father's death because of lung cancer due to smoking.So he thought of using a high frequency, piezoelectric, ultrasound,emitting element to vaporize a jet of liquid containing nicotine.This result in the invention of e-Cigarette.Later in 2003 Hon Lik was registered a patent for modern e-Cigarette.Lik's e-Cigarette was commercialized and domesticated in China in 2004 and outside China in 2006(Europe),2007(US).
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Construction
It has a mouthpiece, a cartridge, a heating element/atomizer, a microprocessor, a battery and a LED light on the end.The atomizer contains small heating coil, that vaporizes e-liquid, and wicking materials draw liquid onto the coil.When the user activates a pressure sensor by inhaling, the heating coil atomizes the liquid solution and create temperature of around 100-250 degree centigrade in the close chamber to create aerosol and then the users inhale it.This aerosol provides same feeling like that of smoking cigarette.
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Uses
After its invention and commercialization in market in 2004, there was exponential increase in its use.Till 2013, millions of user were recorded globally.Most of the smokers and the ex-smokers began to vape it regularly and they found it to be as effective as smoking cigarette.They even believed that vaping helped them cut down or quit smoking and added recreation.Most users also believed vaping was healthier than smoking, whereas some used them to deceive smoke-free laws and policies, or an alternative to smoking cigarette.Most of the young,who were non-smokers also tried it due to curiosity, flavors, and peer influence.But some of them believed it as a sign of rebellion.
Apart from using e-Cigarette as an alternative to smoking, many are using it as a new method of inhaling cannabinoids.Recreational cannabis users can distinctly vape deodorized cannabis extracts with minimal annoyance to people around them with a less chance of detection, known as stealth vaping.They often use synthetic cannabinoids for vaping because of its high solubility in the e-liquid. Some people prefer it as a method of delivering psychoactive drugs, such as Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
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Health effect
Since e-Cigarette was invented as an alternative to smoking or smoking cessation, it has some potential health hazards too.But for the chain-smokers or the one who is addicted to smoking, they can be encouraged to use it so as to quit smoking. It is almost certainly considered less hazardous by 95% for individual than cigarette.It can be a substitute for smoking but not a boon for mankind.Smokers will get maximum health benefit if they completely quit all nicotine use.The potential health risk of vaping are depicted below:-
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Advice
With so much of conflicting evidence, it is difficult to know whether e-Cigarette should be regarded as a safer alternative to smoking tobacco product.But on recent analysis by Annals of Internal Medicine cross sectional study is found that former smokers who only use e-cigarette or nicotine replacement therapy are substantially less likely to be exposed to carcinogens and toxins than those who continue to smoke.And a recent Tobacco control report suggests that switching from cigarette to vaping could prevent millions of premature deaths over a 10 year period.But simultaneously they are also at a risk of developing fatal hazards.University of Pittsburgh study published last year that they found two known carcinogens, o-toludine and 2-naphthylamine, in the urine of e-Cigarette users.These metabolites result in binding of reactive metabolites to DNA and proteins, oxidative DNA damage, chromosomal damage and cytotoxicity.So on chronic exposure to these chemicals result sarcomas, angiosarcomas, fibrosarcomas, osteosarcomas, fibromas, fibroadenomas and mesothelioma, which a smoker won't want ever.So its better quit smoking rather than searching for alternatives.
Reference:-
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_cigarette
2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Toluidine
3.https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/827440
4.https://www.google.com.np/search?q=e+cigarette&oq=e+cigarette&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j69i60l2j0l2.3134j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
5.http://www.casaa.org/historical-timeline-of-electronic-cigarettes/
SO QUIT SMOKING.STAY HEALTHY & STAY HAPPY.
