Young people consume e-cigarettes more often

More and more young people are endangering their health with e-cigarettes

03/19/2015

Many people still see e-cigarettes as a healthier alternative to tobacco. More and more young people are accessing electronic vaporizers or e-hookahs without knowing the health risks. Now the youth protection law is to be changed.

E-cigarettes are not „tobacco“
For years, the ghosts are different for e-cigarettes. Experts and laymen argue about whether the dangers are more „steam“ outweigh or whether by the electronic vaporizer rather hundreds of thousands of people from „Smoke“ can be dissuaded. Unfortunately, more and more young people are turning to e-cigarettes and e-shishas without knowing the health risks. As the electronic cigarettes and electric hookahs are not around „tobacco“ within the meaning of the Youth Protection Act, does not affect the existing statutory tax and smoking ban for children and adolescents. Therefore, now a law change should come.

„Out of the reach of children and adolescents“
The family policy spokesman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, Marcus Weinberg, said, according to a report from „finanznachrichten.de“: „Electronic cigarettes and electric shishas that inhale a nicotine solution are associated with health risks because of the narcotic drug and nerve agent. They were developed as a product for smokers who either want to stop smoking or reduce their personal risk. For these reasons, both e-cigarettes and e-shishas are out of reach of children and adolescents.“

Smoking shortens life
When consuming an e-cigarette, a so-called liquid is evaporated. These liquids consist of over 90 percent of a carrier substance, usually propylene glycol or glycerol. Most of the liquids also contain nicotine. The taste comes from flavors. According to forecasts, about one billion people will die as a result of smoking in this century. According to the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), smoking shortens life by an average of ten years.

Millions of people save an early death
Smoking is one of the most important risk factors for chronic, non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, for example atherosclerosis (arteriosclerosis), chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD (smoker's lung), several cancers, especially lung cancer and type 2 diabetes. The risk of thrombosis also increases. According to experts, switching to steaming could potentially save millions of people an early death. Critics warn, however, that e-cigarettes could arouse the desire for real cigarettes and make smoking acceptable again.

Law change announced
Marcus Weinberg said: „We must not allow children and adolescents to approach smoking as a result of the currently permitted purchase of e-cigarettes or even get used to smoking and become addicted in this way. Anything but a legal ban on the sale of e-cigarettes and e-hookahs could not be explained and also contradicts our prevention idea to prevent smoking.“ He spoke of a pending law change: „The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth responsible for the Youth Protection Act has agreed to amend the Youth Protection Act and to present a draft bill shortly. We expressly welcome this and call for swift consultation and decision-making. It is also important in this context that we underpin the health risks by collecting and publishing appropriate studies.“ (Ad)