The term “vape” or “vaping” has helped the industry create the belief that what comes out of electronic cigarettes is just harmless water vapour, when it’s not even vapour at all. The water from the bottle that people spray their plants or pet reptiles with is water vapour; vapes produce an aerosol by heating liquids that contain chemicals⁴, more like your hairspray which is tacky and strong smelling.

Vape aerosol consists of fine particles, many contain different amounts of toxic chemicals, which have been linked to gum disease, severe lung damage and even death.⁵

Canada’s leading vape company does not make a no-nic product. One pod contains as much nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes. The pods contain Nicotine Salts, also known as Nic Salts, a different type of nicotine vs the regular “freebase” nicotine found in cigarettes and e-juices.

Nic salts help the industry because they make vaping easier for users to inhale than the original freebase nicotine and less harsh on the throat. This allows users to inhale higher amounts of nicotine per puff; hooking them faster and longer.

Using nicotine before the age of 25 has a lasting impact on our brain, affecting memory, attention, and the ability to control our actions and impulses.⁶ Still, the industry targets their products to youth through fun flavours, social media influencers, and even marketing in school classrooms!⁷

There are more than 7,000 different flavours of vapes on the market, many of which are kid-friendly such as cotton candy and gummi bear. Although many of the flavourings used have been found to be safe in food products, it is unknown if they are safe to breathe into our lungs.

When we eat something, the stomach has a lot of ways to cleanse and get rid of it from the body, but the lungs don’t have the same defenses. The lungs were not built to inhale anything other than air.

It should not be a secret that vaping nicotine can harm our physical health.⁴ But many are not aware of the impact of vaping on mental well-being. A recent study of more than 96,000 people found that vapers were 2x as likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and other emotional problems.⁸

The way it works is that if your brain gets something it has become used to, it calms down for a short time, so we start to believe vaping lessens stress and anxiety. This brief relaxed feeling fades fast and gives way to withdrawal and cravings, making us need to use more. We then vape more to reduce these symptoms which are just like that of anxiety, but it doesn’t reduce anxiety or the reasons someone might feel anxious.

Lots of flavours! Cool gear! There’s a reason why tobacco giant Altria Group, the owners of Philip Morris USA and makers of Marlboro cigarettes bought a 35% stake in Juul Labs.⁹ Most recently, an Altria senior exec also took over as Juul CEO.¹⁰

Getting into the heated nicotine business not only gives Big Tobacco a new billion-dollar income stream but is also a way for them to become relevant again.¹¹

Like cigarettes, vaping also impacts our environment. E-waste from vaping like lithium batteries ends up in landfills, pollutes the environment with heavy metals and damages the developing world. Due to the nicotine present, unused pods and/or liquids would be classed as hazardous waste and should be disposed of responsibly. Just like plastic straws disposable versions of vaping devices pose the most risk to the environment.¹²

Yes, the aerosol that comes out of a vape may not expose non-users to the same level of toxins as cigarettes, but it still exposes them to chemicals that they would not have to breathe if someone wasn’t vaping around them.

Research has tested the amounts of nicotine, carbon monoxide and many volatile organic compounds after vape use and compared it to those from cigarettes. Though emissions from vapes went away more quickly and contained less toxins than cigarettes, it still contained:

• nicotine
• ingredients found in paint thinner
• particles¹³

These would be most dangerous to children, pregnant women and people with heart disease. We need to consider others like our younger siblings and cousins when making the choice to vape; not only do we risk their health, we are their role models and what we do affects them.