South African Medical Association chairperson, Dr Angelique Coetzee, says the rate at which vaping has become popular among adolescents and young adults is concerning.
Dr Coetzee is urging young people to stay away from “trendy” vapes as they are only meant to serve as a tool to help wean cigarette smokers off nicotine.
The chairperson of Sama blames advertisers for making vapes appealing to the young market.
She believes that the colourful, fancy packaging of both nicotine and non-nicotine vapes is also problematic as it contributes to them being more appealing to underage smokers.
Her remarks come at the back of the announcement of the ban of single-use disposable vapes in England and Wales, which will kick in from June next year. This move is in a bid to protect children, among others, after research revealed that the number of youngsters who vape between the ages of 11 and 15 in the UK had tripled in the last three years.
The habit has also become popular in South Africa, with a recent study by the University of Cape Town Lung Institute revealing that 26.5% of the learners in Grade 12 admitted to vaping.
In the lower grades, 17.4% in Grade 11, 13% in Grade 10, and 10.8% in Grade 9 have also admitted to using vapes.
Dr Coetzee urges young people to be careful with the e-hookahs as their long-term effects remain unknown.
The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has also blamed social and peer pressure for adolescents and young people turning to vapes.
The council’s Senior Specialist Scientist in the Mental Health, Dr Catherine Egbe, says vapes cause more problems to young people instead of assisting them with reducing anxiety and stress, as some claim they do.
“Most people who vape do not realise that they were targeted by the industry which makes it a go-to substance for young people and afterwards, they start using them to quell the very same things the vapes cause, which is stress and anxiety. Many also use these products due to the influence of peers. Ask a young person why they first started vaping, it is likely the attraction to the product or peer pressure,” she explains.
“Nicotine first starts by giving them a pleasurable feeling, but this is short-lived. Soon they begin to crave for more nicotine. Due to withdrawal symptoms from the nicotine, they suffer from such stress and anxiety,” adds Dr Egbe.
Sama’s Dr Coetzee has offered tips for young people who want to quit vaping.
She’s urging them to find alternative means of dealing with their stress and anxiety instead of turning to vaping.
Dr Coetzee says while some vape users might enjoy being able to control the nicotine levels they smoke; they might, unintentionally, be consuming more nicotine than intended.
Dr Egbe warns of the dangers of nicotine, which she says, is the addictive drug that makes it harder to quit smoking cigarettes or vaping.
“Nicotine affects the development of the adolescent brain. Unfortunately, manufacturers of vapes have started using synthetic nicotine in some e-liquids and synthetic nicotine is even more potent, more addictive than natural nicotine which is derived from the tobacco plant and which you would find in cigarettes.”
She also warns that reduced exposure to these chemicals does not equate to less exposure to harms.
“Many of which are known carcinogens including some other heavy metals like cadmium. Research has shown that some of these chemicals are found in lower quantities in vapes than cigarettes. Due to this many people claim that because these chemicals are lower in quantity in vapes, these products must be less harmful than cigarettes. (But) The interesting thing is lower exposure to harmful chemicals does not always mean lower harm or no harm. This is the big difference that people need to be aware of. While some tobacco-induced diseases follow a linear dose-response pattern, others do not. For example, whether you are smoking one stick of cigarette per day or 20 cigarettes per day, you are still exposed to the risk of contracting cardiovascular diseases if you smoke,” cautions Dr Egbe.