How e-cigarettes went from celebrity accessory to product non grata
October 1, 2019Several states have enacted a ban on sales of vaping products amid more than 800 reports of lung injuries nationwide
Up until a month ago, it sometimes seemed like everybody vaped, from international celebrities to local teens.Now, it can feel as if everybody is trying to quit.
Amid reports of at least 805 cases of vaping-related lung injury in 46 states and one US territory, states including New York, Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island have all banned sales of flavored electronic cigarette products.
In California, where e-cigarette giant Juul Labs is headquartered, the matter has particularly hit home, with the states department of public health issuing an advisory this week urging everyone to refrain from vaping and the governor launching a $20m public awareness campaign about the dangers of it.
EvenDonald Trump is developing a federal flavored e-cigarette ban.
Theyve been touted as safer than cigarettes, even to the extreme of being safe, period, said John Maa, a past president of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society. But we dont really know what the effects of chronic vaping is on your lungs.
And yet it was not that long ago that vaping was widely accepted as the healthier alternative to cigarettes.
When e-cigarettes entered the US marketplace in about 2007, they were billed as a tool to help smokers quit smoking . Like cigarettes, they contain nicotine, but not its parent compound, tobacco, which kills up to half its users.
To many, the process of vaping also felt better than smoking and with a wide variety in flavors, they appealed to an audience much wider than smokers. Someone who doesnt smoke might pick up a cigarette, take a few puffs, cough, and question why theyre doing it, Maa said. But with an electronic cigarette, its tasty. Its like having a lollipop.
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