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Jennifer Slyby

Professor Loudermilk

Eng Comp 1201 Online

14 April 2019

The Toxic Trend

For centuries, cigarettes have been very popular among adults. Cigarettes were first

invented in 1865, for the soldiers after they arrived home from the Civil War. Soon after

cigarettes were released to the public, many people began to smoke them without knowing the

harmful effects. It is currently 2019, and it looks like history is repeating itself. This time with e-

cigarettes. In 2002, e-cigarettes were invented by Chon Lik. His goal was to make e-cigarettes a

better alternative to smoking. Instead of breathing in tar, he thought to replace it with vapor and

toxic chemicals. E-cigarettes were made to be a safer alternative to smoking. E-cigarettes are

now becoming worse than smoking a traditional cigarette. Masked by appealing vape flavors,

easy access, and cool products, the majority of people do not realize, they are smoking more

often than the average traditional cigarettes smoker and putting their healthy lives at risk.

Cigarettes were not solely made for users to get addicted, but tobacco companies knew

that there was a possibility it would happen. Those companies were not complaining. A

cigarette’s main ingredients are ground tobacco, tar, and other toxic chemicals. It usually is

known for its white cylinder shape and a tan end that is made to “catch all the toxic chemicals

from the cigarette smoke” (Martin). There are over seven thousand chemicals that release out

into the air after being used. Around the 1960s, is when cigarettes started to become very

popular. Around 1964, the health effects that cigarettes had to our body started to surface. At the

time, the FDA was not involved as it is today. The US General Surgeons, came out with a report
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and solution to this problem. Not long after this report came out, Congress acted fast. Congress

passed the “Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act. It recognized that every cigarette pack must

have a warning label on it stating, "Cigarettes may be hazardous to your health”.”(Martin).

Cigarettes are vastly everywhere around the world and humans know what kind of odor they

give off. The odor and the look of cigarettes makes it apparent that they are not good for

human’s health. When you hear the saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover”, this phrase is

opposite when you see a cigarette. Congress knew the cigarette epidemic was becoming an issue

because the risks were open to the public. The cigarette industry knew that they had to find some

kind of loophole to keep their customers engaged, but give them the same buzz that they have

been achieving in smoking a cigarette. This time around, they had to think of a “safer” method.

When the dangers of traditional cigarettes started to become more prominent, big tobacco

companies started looking for a solution. How could big companies keep their customers and

give them their fix, but also supply a new alternative? This is where e-cigarettes came into the

picture. The vaping industry knew this was the time for them to profit. The idea of e-cigarettes

was in full effect. There are three parts to an e-cigarette or, better known as a vape.There is the

battery that acts like the the lighter. There is a cartridge where the nicotine, flavor, and other

chemicals are stored. Then, there is the mouthpiece where you obtain the buzz when the led light

turns color. Already, it sounds much more appealing and grabs the viewer's attention away from

the traditional cigarette. In the beginning, it sounded like the perfect alternative for the cigarette

smoker trying to cut back on the toxins inside a cigarette. To the FDA and vaping industries, it

looked promising. It started to look like it was helping addicts find a safer alternative. Soon after,

facts started coming out about vapes and the question was raised if they more harmful than the

companies were portraying them out to be. They were more appealing, “safer” option, no tar, and
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better tasting. That did not make it safer. In fact, studies show that vapes are just as bad for you,

but the deed has already been done to the world that they are the safer option. All types of e-

cigarettes have toxic chemicals in them just as bad as the toxins in traditional cigarettes. The

only difference between both of the cigarettes is the e-cigarette is more engaging.

In a world where being frugal is the new reality, people are always taking the cheaper

option out. Feeding an addiction for a cheaper price is what every user strives to seek. If the e-

cigarette and vape spiels did not get your attention, the price to maintain your addiction with a

“better” alternative, certainly will. In the vaping industry, there are currently “ 433 brands and

counting” of vaping companies striving to make new devices and flavors (Jason). Within those

brands being made, there are “over seven thousand, seven hundred, and sixty four vape flavors

being produced” (Jason). Guess any type of flavor that sounds appealing to you. Suppose it was a

blue raspberry slushie. Go to the vape store, ask for that flavor, pick your nicotine dose in

milligrams. Next thing you know, you are hitting your vape that taste like a blue raspberry

slushie while getting a nicotine buzz at the same time. This example shows how appealing the

vape flavors could be. Big tobacco companies have masked the harmful effects that vape and e-

cigarette products give off by producing delicious tasting vapors to inhale. Most vapors come in

a bottle that is as a big as a contact solution bottle. For the average smoker, there is enough

nicotine in one of those bottles to last them about a month to two months. Comparing that to a

pack of cigarettes that the average smoker goes through in a week, vaping seems like the better

alternative. Vaping does not only seem like the safer option and more affordable option, but it is

also more appealing to many people.

Advertising for vapes was vastly everywhere, which allowed anyone to see them,

including younger kids. In the United States, you have to be 18 in order to buy tobacco products.
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On average, a citizen is a senior in high school when they turn 18. Turning eighteen when in high

school allows younger kids to get vapes and e-cigarettes easily. It was not until two years ago

that the ecig business took a turn for the better. Studies show “revenue increased by 13% in just

5 months” (Walter). Centering advertisement around a younger crowd, peer pressure is currently

at its maximum on all spectrums. A girl from Millard West High School explains it as “at first,

the appeal was my friends doing it” then proceeds to say “...it is something I chose to do but I do

not know why. I thought it would take a month to stop.” (Millard West). This is a proven fact

that teenagers thought that this would be another trend that falls out of style not knowing the

serious effects of what trend they were allowing. On advertisements, Juul had pictures of

younger people juuling for their promotion catch and it certainly got the attention of the younger

crowd. When a person thinks of the word “juul” their mind will most likely go to a younger adult

because that is the age that you seem the product with. For example, walk on a college campus

late at night on a weekend and it will be as if the clouds were touching the college students.

Vaping companies knew what they were doing with their advertising. They knew that if they

targeted a young crowd, that they could get the young adults hooked and make them buyers for

life. After the product “JUUL” came out and other various vape companies came out with

accessible products like Juul, the vaping industry took off. The vaping industry sailed to a profit

of 3 billion dollars and that is still raising. They saw who Juul was advertising too, and they

targeted the same audience. A newly popular vape company known as “nord” has been targeting

the same audience but they approached it in a cheaper way. For a pack of pods that came with

juuls, it was about twenty dollars a pack. On average, that would last about two weeks at

maximum and that is a lot of money considering that is on a high schooler’s budget. Nord on the

other hand, allowed high schoolers to vape with nicotine juice you inserted into a pod. Nicotine
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bottles are not tiny and can last a high schooler about a month to two months and spending

fifteen dollars and this time, getting even better flavors. In a world so media based and

consumed, young adults and teenagers are prone to do what they are seeing their peers do. We

are at a stage in the world where teenagers are going to do the opposite of what they’re told.

Pretty soon, their bodies will be asking them why they rebelled on a matter like this.

The World’s eyes are on Generation Z right now and by the looks of it, it may be a

troubling road ahead for their health. Knowing how accessible it is for teenagers to access vapes

and e-cigs, it is not shocking the rate of teenagers smoking is increasing. Many high schools have

realized how big of a problem this is becoming for young adults. Because it is vapor, once it

touches the air, it almost goes away instantly, allowing students to get what is called a “juul

break” in between classes. Because it is becoming a nationwide problem through schools “many

high schools have taken steps to aware the parents” (Wayne Local Schools). In one study, “it is

known that over 1.7 million teenagers are using vapes” (Millard West). If you have heard of

Clout, that is exactly what vaping started out being. Clout is the act of trying to fit in or gain

attention. In high school, peer pressure and the feeling of wanted to be liked is the highest in

your lifetime. When all of your friends are craving the “safe buzz” and it is so easy to obtain, you

are oddly out of place when you do not do it. Because media has portrayed Juuls to be healthier

than cigarettes, teenagers think that it is okay to hit them and not have any consequences.

If the nation did not have regulation on products, our economy and health could be put at

a bigger risk it even is today. As people started to come out negatively against vape products, the

FDA knew that they needed to act fast. It was clear to the FDA, that more people than past users

were starting to use these products. They knew it infiltrated the youth and that caused many

complaints towards the FDA. First, the FDA started to make all vape juices, juul pods, and
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substitute pods come with a label on them stating “this product does contain nicotine which is

highly addictive”. This may have gotten some people’s attention but not a lot. No sales were

decreasing and the problem was not being solved. Second, the FDA “targeted one specific

company” (Fraga). Juuls have been popular all across the country throughout the youth. Juuls are

“pods with nicotine that have flavors such as cucumber, fruit medley, mango, mint, creme

brulee, and many more” (Juul.com). The youth was so attracted to Juuls because they were easy

to use and they had good flavors that masked the harmful effects. This caused the FDA to put

pressure on the Juuling industry to change something about their products. In late 2018, “the

maker of Juuls decided to discontinue all flavors of pods besides virginia tobacco, mint, and

menthol” (Gottshalk). This was the first step to success of decreasing the amount of users. If the

teenagers wanted to go a buzz, they would now have to face the literal flavors of tabacco, just

like they were smoking a cigarette. Although the FDA is the barrier of all good and bad in the

food and drug industry, they still have their limitations too. The FDA can try to help many

people understand harmful effects of vaping but not many people will listen and they could be

jeopardizing their health.

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The human eye is not blind to something toxic, when they see an example of the word.

Whether it be in a movie scene, relationship, or literally seeing “toxic chemicals”, if they see

something toxic, humans usually stay away. But, humans do not know is something is toxic if it

is hidden or masked by something more attractive. For example, Nicotine is “one of the most

toxic and addictive alkaloid poisons” that we put into our bodies, yet it is FDA regulated. Just

because it is not illegal does not mean it is safe to put into our body. We hear about nicotine and

cigarettes being harmful to our lungs but it affects so much more in our bodies. Nicotine acts as a

stimulant in our cardiovascular system. A stimulant acts like adrenaline in our body, increasing

our mood to be happier. Nicotine can cause a increase in blood pressure and vasoconstriction,

which decreases blood flow to the heart. Depending on how long you vape and how frequent, it

“can lead to chest pain and increase the risk of myocardial infarction or heart attack” (Nevins).

Nicotine increases your heart rate which puts a vast amount of work on your heart and its

functions. Nicotine is so lethal because “people who consume nicotine are at risk for palpitations,

a rapid heart rate, and arrhythmias” (Nevins). Arrhythmias can cause irregular heart rhythms

which can lead to cardiac arrest. For young adults, this next statistic is what catches their eye the

most. When smoking, most smokers say that you start to not be hungry anymore. This is because

“smokers usually weigh about 6-9 pounds lighter than a non-smoker” because nicotine increases

the immune system. (Nevins). Behind the fruity flavors and indistinct vapor, people do not

understand how nicotine affects every part of our body. What is even more harmful than the vape

and nicotine itself is the other chemicals mixed in with the nicotine to give you the full effect

buzz.

Inside a vape is more than nicotine and the syrup flavor that you choose. Antifreeze is a

product that you put into your car. This allows your engine to cool down and not freeze during
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the Winter. Imagine putting this into your body. If you have smoked out of a vape, you have put

antifreeze into your body. If a human has ever been in an anatomy class or has worked with

preserving plants and such, you are familiar with Formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a chemical

that you put on animals and people to preserve their bodies of not rotting. In a study, examiners

“looked at 42 of these liquid cartridges and determined that they contained formaldehyde”

(Fraga). Vapes do not only contain formaldehyde, but several of the cartridges that the study

tested, had higher levels than the maximum EPA allows in a human body. Although studies on e-

cigarettes causing cancer are not well known, studies of formaldehyde are one hundred percent

proven to cause cancer in humans. Young teenagers and adults are oblivious to what they put

into their bodies, and honestly, the blame cannot be put solely on them. Big tobacco companies

are putting cancerous chemicals and not exploiting the underlying big concerns to vaping. Young

adults need to start realizing and paying attention that what they are smoking is far more than a

buzz that lasts for five minutes.

Plain and simple, nicotine is addictive. Nicotine will “harm brain development in

younger people” (Bravo) and studies show that nine out of ten kids that start before eighteen will

develop a habit of smoking. Kids are not allowing their brain to fully develop to their maximum

growth and they are developing a habit that could possibly make them addicts their whole life.

Nicotine is estimated to be responsible for around forty-eight thousand premature deaths. This

mean “1 out of every 5 premature deaths are connected to some sort of tobacco use” (Tobacco

research center). Young females are putting a chemical into their bodies that are harming more

than just their own bodies. Most females want to have kids and they could lose their baby to

something that could've been totally preventable if they looked past the peer pressure and buzz

they get. Nicotine does not look addictive from the appealing flavors or the taste of them.
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Nicotine physically changes your brain chemistry, causing your body to physically and mentally

become dependant on it. Nicotine is such a popular buzz because “ it takes up to twenty seconds

for nicotine to travel to the brain, causing one of the faster buzzes out of all of them” (Tobacco

research center). Nicotine mixes with our dopamine levels within our bodies. Dopamine is a

neurotransmitter that tells our body that we really like something. Well, when an addictive

substance is mixing with our dopamine levels, telling our body that we like whatever we are

feeling, we keep craving that feeling. Because that feelings is addictive, it makes our body even

more prone to become addictive to that substance. Trying to quit nicotine is much harder than

starting it. When trying to quit “your body will easily get accustomed to elevated sugar levels

and regular dopamine that comes with smoking a cigarette and will start showing serious

withdrawal symptoms during cessation attempts” (Cheng). The human trying to quit will start to

notice more mood swings, glimpses of depression, and in increase of appetite. Our bodies are not

made to naturally fight off addictions. It will be a struggle and most of the time, the addiction

will never subside. If young adults are becoming addicted to nicotine at a young age and trying

to stop when it is to late, they will be harming their bodies but will also be harming their grit to

succeed in something that seems like a reach.

Whenever a case or trial is put into a study, statistics usually do not lie. Big companies

and the FDA started to notice the difference of age groups when the statistics came out. In a

thirty day trial, "adults age 25 or older who reported e-cigarette is 5.0 percent, much lower than

observed among youth” (Kasza). Most of these adults have already started smoking cigarettes

and have transitioned into vaping, thinking it was a safer alternative. And for them, it may be.

But, for the young adults who have never smoke before “ High school students rose from 1.5

percent in 2011 to a high of 16.0 percent in 2015,” (HHS). This grabbed many people's attention
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on who was actually making the vaping industry grow. In a high school study that was

performed, studies showed that fifty-five percent of the high school regularly used a vape

product and that was out of the people who volunteered to participate in the study. Vaping

started to become a distraction when it started seeping into a younger crowd. The younger crowd

is starting to worry about getting caught, where they are finding their next fix, or getting caught

by their family. Because of the studies that have recently came out, awareness has came out

about the severity of the problem. The FDA has taken a few actions to help the problem but other

companies and regular people are starting to take control of awaring people because they are

worried about their own children. E-cigarettes may be helping the older adults who truly need an

alternative from traditional cigarettes but they are hurting the new generation that is starting to

vape. The vaping industry is not blind to who they are advertising to and the statistics that are

being provided, yet they are still doing nothing.

The World will never be a perfect society. We can try and change the world and help

raise awareness to topics that people feel strongly about but the outcome may never turn out the

way humans expect it to. An example of humans trying to change the outcome but not

succeeding is the e-cigarettes and vape products. Companies worked with the FDA to try to find
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a better alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes but they just replaced tar with toxic

chemicals. The inventor of e-cigarettes did accomplish traditional cigarette sales to go down but

that is not classified as a win. Replacing tar, nicotine, and cancerous ingredients with toxic

chemicals, nicotine, and vapor attracted the wrong crowd. Being able to cover the dark and

smoky odor of cigarettes with cotton candy, blue raspberry and skittle vape flavors, it attracted

young adults and teenage that will now become lifetime addicts. The media is at fault for making

vaping seem like a non-harmful substance. Through advertisements, viewers saw a certain clique

and that clique was the young adults. Peer pressure is at its peak right now which does not help

this trend. Juuls have now topped the list for first time users getting addicted and the nation is not

shocked anymore. Young adults and teenagers are being blindsided by the whole truth about

what they are putting into their bodies. Masked by appealing vape flavors, easy access, and cool

products, the majority of people do not realize, they are smoking more often than the average

traditional cigarettes smoker and putting their healthy lives more at risk. Now the nation is

becoming aware of the problem, but it may be too late.

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Works Cited

1. HenryFordTV, director. Game on Cancer Inside Smoking. YouTube, Youtube, 2018,

www/.youtube.com/user/HenryFordTV

2. Jeffrey BuckleyI. That period has led me to vaping. “Side Effects of Vaping: New

Studies and Researches Explained.” Vaping Daily, 2018,

millardwestcatalyst.com/6023/news/vaping-a-dangerous-epidemic/.

3. Maine, NEWS CENTER. “Interview with American Lung Association Doctor about

Vaping, e-Cigarettes.” YouTube, YouTube, 13 Feb. 2019,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCtJ8GyCd8.

4. Rimer, Sara, et al. “Behind TheVapor.” Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) | Human

Resources, BU Research, www.bu.edu/research/articles/behind-the-vapor/.

5. “Side Effects of Nicotine on Your Health.” Tobacco, 2018, tobaccofreelife.org/why-quit-

smoking/smoking-effects/nicotine-effects/.

6. Stratton , Kathleen. Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes. National Academies

Press, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29894118

7. “The Effects of Nicotine on the Body.” LIVESTRONG.COM, Leaf Group,

www.livestrong.com/article/92349-effects-nicotine-body/.
8. Zuckerman, Dr. “Is Vaping Safer than Smoking Cigarettes?” National Center for Health

Research, 8 Oct. 2018, www.center4research.org/vaping-safer-smoking-cigarettes-2/.