Over the past few months, an ongoing debate in the United States over-regulation of e-cigarettes products due to an outbreak of vaping-related lung illnesses and deaths has drawn attention to the public around the world.
Different Situation in the US and UK
As of November 5, there have been 2,051 cases of vaping-related lung injury in 49 states in the US. At least 40 deaths have been reported. Vitamin E acetate, an additive sometimes used in THC and other vaping products may be to blame for the outbreak, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Since then, flavor ban has been issued in severl states in the US.
However, there does not appear to have been an outbreak of vaping-related illnesses in the UK, where there are stronger refulations on nicotine content, illicit vaping products, and advertising. The UK's attitude toward the potential dangers of e-cigarettes are more relaxed than in the United States.
A British Teenager Suffers 'Catastrophic' illness
But the bad news comes British doctors warned over vaping risk as a British teenager almost died from severe respiratory failure linked to e-cigarettes.
A teenage boy, Ewan Fisher, nearly died after vaping caused a catastrophic reaction in his lungs, doctors in Nottingham say. He started vaping in early 2017. At that time, he was only 16-year-old and wanted to quit smoking to improve his boxing. After vaping for four to five months, Ewan had a week of fever, a persistent cough, and increasing difficulty with breathing. His mother took him to the hospital immediately.
Dr. Jayesh Mahendra Bhatt, a consultant in pediatric respiratory medicine at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, who treated Ewan, said: "The evidence gathered after investigation showed that vaping was to blame for these issues.
Whether Vaping Causes Harm to Human Health?
Ewan told doctors he had smoked cannabis a year previously, but not recently. And British Lung Foundation medical director Dr. Nick Hopkinson said the findings showed it was "possible the patients" illness could have been due to an allergic response to a component of e-cigarette vapor."
However, he said it can often be difficult to make an accurate diagnosis for this condition.
"In Britain, 3.6 million people vape and youth use remains low. Advice remains that smoking carries a huge health risk, and smokers need to quit if at all possible," he added.
Obviously, scientists remain divided over whether vaping causes harAdvicem to human health. More studies and evidence needed to answer this challenging question.
Is It Time to Quit Vaping?
John Britton, director of the UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies, said: " This is worrying, and the risk needs to be acknowledged, but in absolute terms, it is extremely small -- and, crucially, far smaller than that of smoking. The advice remains the same: if you smoke, switch to vaping; if you don't smoke, don't vape,"
An expert independent evidence review published by Public Health England (PHE) also concludes that e-cigarettes are significantly 95% less harmful to health than tobacco and have the potential to help smokers quit smoking in the UK.
Therefore, be patient and don't make a decision quickly. Vaping has been proven to be a healthier alternative. Nowadays, scientists and experts need more time to make more in-depth investigations and provide more reliable evidence to unveil the influence of vaping on human health. For the smokers, vaping still helps and regarded as a good way to quit smoking; For the non-smokers, especially young teenagers, stay away from e-cigarettes and do not have a try out of curiosity.