The reality about the dangers of vaping, a TikTok doctor warns, won’t be seen “for 20 or 30 years.”
Young people are being warned on TikTok by an NHS doctor and content creator that vaping is “repeating history” and that, similar to smoking, the full extent of the risks would “take decades to come through.”
“Who would have thought that back in the 1920s to 1940s, doctors on every billboard were trying to promote smoking cigarettes? They even claimed, along with the tobacco companies, that smoking cigarettes cured or treated asthma and shortness of breath,” writes Dr. Ahmed Ezzat, a blogger who goes by the moniker Dr. Mish Mash.
It would be utterly absurd if someone said that today. In a similar vein, history is kind of repeating itself.
There are many similarities between cigarettes and vapes, which are electronic devices that come with or without nicotine and are intended to allow users to inhale nicotine vapour, according to the general surgery registrar in London.
It took forty years to discover the health risks associated with smoking. We should wait a few more decades to see the effects of vaping.
According to him, this does not imply that there is no harm, but that there isn’t enough evidence to support it yet. They might be quite dangerous, and it won’t be known how they’ll affect things for 20 or 30 years.
It’s a part of TikTok’s recent initiative to link those who wish to stop vaping to Talk To Frank and offer accurate information about the possible risks of vaping from reliable sources.
It’s widely debated on TikTok, with over 154,000 posts under the hashtag #vaping and 14,000 posts under the hashtag #quitvaping. To further educate users, creators like Dr. Emeka Okorocha (@Doctor.Emeka) and medical student Christina Aaliyah (@christina.aaliyah) have been working on the campaign.
According to Ezzat, there has been a surge in the number of younger children experimenting and eventually taking up vaping. Since they are under 18 and have never smoked cigarettes, these people are considered minors.
According to NHS data from 2022, 9% of children between the ages of 11 and 15 vaped at that time; for those under 15, the percentage is as high as one in five. According to recent data released by Cancer UK, the percentage of adults who had never smoked who vaped increased from 2% in July 2016 to 9% in May 2023, with the largest increase among those who had never smoked.
Particularly, the tastes and colours of disposable vaporizers may draw in younger consumers. I see people at every bus stop purchasing these brightly coloured, really inexpensive, £2 vapes. These children are leaving their schools.
These flavours normalise it to the point where people purchase a vape that is perceived as hip rather than, say, chocolate or chewing gum.
Adult vaping is also not helping the situation. Parents are vaping more frequently around their kids, even at playgrounds, since they believe it to be “not smoking.”
According to Ezzat, this is the point of “cultural confusion.” “There’s a haze where people don’t realise that vaping is just as harmful as smoking,”However, and here’s where things get complicated, vaping has its uses, but it’s definitely not recommended for young people or people who have never smoked,” he says. “For people who are trying to quit smoking cigarettes but are having trouble quitting, the NHS advises vaping in a controlled manner. Vaping definitely has a place in restricted usage for those who are addicted to smoking, after consulting with a physician.
To learn how to give up vaping, go to talktofrank.com
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