this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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politics

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[–] raunz@mander.xyz 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't quite understand how the science is clear if "there is still no data on the long-term effects of e-cigarettes".

[–] draagon@infosec.pub 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

We dont have long term data because e-cigarettes haven't been used for a long time. They got popular ten years back?

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So the science isn't clear yet. It's still emerging

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[–] itsJoelle@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Also, as a vaper who switch from cigs because I was desperate for an alternative, I'm also curious about the different strata of products that exist on the market. For example, I visit a juice shop that mixes their products on site with pure materials, and I get to customize what exactly appears within my harmful juices. I build and maintain my parts as well. How does this approach compare to 'over the connivence store counter' kits like Juul?

It wouldn't surprise me if those products contain preservatives, or byproducts of a corporation skirting regulatory lines, that could be hazardous for consumer health. Though, that is purely my speculation — yet I wonder if my choice method of getting my sweet, sweet nicotine will get lumped in with everything else.

You would think 10 years would be enough time to see a groups increased risk to associated illnesses. If I made a study group and made them smoke daily for 10 years there would definitely be poorer health. The science is pretty clear, but the WHO doesn't want to admit that vapes are net neutral, whereas tobacco is bad, so obviously that would make vapes "healthy" in comparison.

Nicotine in the body acts much like caffeine, it increases your blood pressure, giving the effect of a "calmer" feeling, and headaches when in withdrawal. No one is lobbying against coffee/caffeinated drinks, even though it's understood that too much caffeine can cause health risks. That's really where we're at. Alternative methods like nicotine gum or patches have existed for a long time and while there can be dependencies formed on these, no one would dare say nicotine gum is as dangerous as smoking cigarettes. The associated cancer risks from tobacco come from the carcinogens that are created when burning tobacco, not from the nicotine itself

[–] Whirlybird@aussie.zone 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Anything other than air going in to your lungs is bad. Vaping puts stuff that isn't air into your lungs. The science is clear on that.

Just how much damage it's doing isn't really clear because they're only becoming really popular now, but it is doing damage.

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[–] markr@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (6 children)

All advertising for all tobacco products should be banned, including of course the product placement bullshit.

Other than that, and age restrictions, people should have the right to consume it. They should not have the right to force other people to consume it, as in secondhand smoke.

Same with other addictive and/or harmful products.

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[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Oh wow governments don't follow the science

[–] chk232@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Tobacco lobby

[–] Reverendender@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How are health risks of vaping marijuana?

[–] Imgonnatrythis@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Data suggest it mainly affects the ability to formulate clear sentences.

[–] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 1 year ago (5 children)

(Guesstimating) Better than smoking, but as any doctor will tell you, putting anything that isn't air into your lungs is worse than not putting anything that isn't air into your lungs.

I say this as someone who both smokes and vapes cannabis.

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[–] ezmack@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I vape. I hate it, but its probably better than cigs

[–] emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I vape and I love it and it's definitely better than cigs. Nicotine on its own is no more harmful than caffeine and is incredibly useful at treating my adhd and depression symptoms. I smoked for 8 years and now have been vaping for ten. While I smoked I felt like shit all the time. Since switching to vaping I haven't had a single negative side effect. I make my own juice, it's unflavored. It's literally just nicotine, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, which basically makes it an asthma inhaler but for nicotine instead of asthma drugs. I never plan to quit because I buy the ingredients in bulk and it only costs me like $40 a year for me and my girlfriend. There is no downside. Yes I'm addicted but so are many people to coffee. I see no downside at all.

[–] Whirlybird@aussie.zone 3 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I see no downside at all.

Apart from the health risks, of course.....

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[–] Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

How does one get started intelligently on this? I’m using disposable and would love to cut waste and expenses but I really like the draw of the disposable. I don’t care about blowing clouds. I want some restriction to the drag and would love to mix my own vape. I’ve thrown away over $500 of vapes trying to figure out how to get something that just works. I hate all the parts and settings with the ones I’ve gotten. With the disposable I can pick them up and vape. I don’t have to worry about what the wattage or other bs is. Is their an effective option for someone that’s not a vape snob? I just want the miller lite of vape solutions and while saving money would be great I already spend significantly less than I did on cigarettes, I mostly hate myself for all the battery and plastic waste I’m creating.

[–] emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My girlfriend and I both use the little nord handheld vapes. Nord 5 or nord 50 watt is a good place to start. They're cheap enough to replace if they get broken or lost and they get the job done. Then you just need the juice. You can use any flavored juice from a vape store, or just go online and look for bulk nicotine juice, sometimes putting 'DIY' in the search can help. I got a liter for $80 recently, but prices have been rising in canada due to new restrictions. Still waaaayyyy cheaper than paying $30 for 30ml though. Then you replace the coil in the cartridge every couple weeks or when it starts to get burnt. The nice thing about the unflavored juice is no sugar or additives so it doesn't clog up the coil as fast. Super simple to use and not one of those big metal monster machines that people use to blow clouds. Fits nice in a pocket or purse.

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[–] mindbleach@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (19 children)

"It beats smoking" is a low fucking bar.

The science is that putting shit in your lungs is not great. There's no upside for non-smokers. It's a lark. The only truly positive side is that it's objectively better than inhaling smoke, and that only matters if it's a tobacco alternative - and contains nicotine. Which let this low-impact delivery mechanism create new addicts.

Two decades in either direction and the calculus would be trivial. 1990, the way people smoked back then? We'd solve the epidemic overnight. Trade it for vaping in a heartbeat. 2030, the way statistics were headed? Pointless and inexcusable. A brief fad that would linger in countries with hookah culture.

Instead, the worst-case scenario happened immediately. The same murderous liars made money hooking a new generation with a fairly unsafe and hideously addictive chemical. Like they'd previously done by adding filters, and then menthol, and then cloves.

[–] Sausage@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Smoking kills 8 million people worldwide every year. I think it's worth pushing the alternatives.

[–] Shrek@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe I read it wrong but what I got from it is this:

Vaping is good as an alternative to non-smokers. The problem is that it's being pushed to non-smokers. It's not as bad as smoking, but the best is neither.

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[–] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (6 children)

The problem isn't pushing it as an alternative to already active smokers, that's what it was initially touted as...

The problem is it became the new smoking fad. People who never smoked are taking this up, and are now the new generation of hungry addicts to keep the tobacco corps alive and well.

[–] Sausage@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (6 children)

An adult should be able to do whatever the fuck they want, as long as it doesn't impact other people. Vaping doesn't emit any carcinogens or toxic substances, and 10 times less nicotine than smoking does. At the end of the day, vaping does far less harm than smoking, and it's easier to reduce the amount of nicotine consumed with vaping. Nicotine also has health benefits, such as slowing down the onset of Parkinson's.

If teenagers are vaping then that's an enforcement issue, but at the same time I would be less worried if I found a vape in my kid's bedroom than a packet of cigarettes. Teenagers will experiement with substances. Nicotne vapes are way down the list of ones I would be worried about.

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[–] itsJoelle@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I haven't smoked a cigarette in six years. Most of the time I use nicotine lozenges during the day, and my vape is for when I'm drinking or I need to fall on my crutch. It's familiar to my known vice, and stopped me from the more dangerous method of handling my addiction.

Grand stand all you will about how it was 'solved' over night, but I got hooked on the bitch in the 2000's due to family history and culture. People still smoke all around me, and it was only a matter of time before I tried it and got hooked. And I've made peace with that. That's before we even touch a more terrifying addiction that exists all over my country within opiate-families despite them having a stronger controlled classification. While the chemical exists in the environment potential addicts will happen across it and subsist.

'It beats smoking' is a pretty important bar for me, as an addict, because it reduces harm to myself

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[–] paultimate14@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why do all of these articles always assume all vaping is nicotine-related? It's exchanging the words "e-cigarette" with "vape". Seems irresponsible of the author. It's like writing an article on the dangers of squares and mixing in the word rectangle

[–] handhookcardoor@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Most of these anti smoking articles are written by people who don’t understand smoking devices themselves. Irresponsible for sure.

[–] BB69@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (10 children)

If we ban vaping, we should ban cigarettes, cigars, chew, alcohol, and weed as well.

All have a negative effect on your health.

[–] Modamiyota@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Guess we should ban sugar too.

[–] arditty@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Strongly agree. We’ve already learned that prohibition doesn’t work and that people will always find other ways to get their fix.

If flavored vapes are “marketed to children”, what about flavored THC edibles and fruity/candy flavored alcohol? What about energy drinks and highly caffeinated sodas? What about high calorie ultra-palatable foods with absurd quantities of high fructose corn syrup? How is nicotine so different from any of the other drugs that society has decided are socially acceptable?

Humanity has had a relationship with mind altering substances since the dawn of time. It’s ingrained in our cultures, and may even be partially responsible for how human intelligence has adapted to where it is today. Nobody is going to overwrite thousands of years of history by banning vapes. People will just find some other way to access nicotine and other substances, probably by switching back to smoking or chewing. A brief ten-year interval of pushback against smoking in select countries didn’t mean that people no longer wanted nicotine, it just meant that people wanted a less objectionable way of consuming it than burning leaves in paper.

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[–] mr_rusty_shackleford@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Why are people all of sudden so concerned about other people’s health? I should be able to do just about anything I want to my body, as long as it has minimal impact on those around me. I can understand second hand smoke being a problem indoors, what impacts does exhaling vapor have on others?

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[–] gk99@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Bro I could say the same thing about global warming, vaccines, race, and abortions, but I'm still surrounded by people fighting progress. Vaping is no different.

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