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Economy
Mahesh

26/08/24 14:57 PM IST

New-age gateway devices, the latest health threat

In News
  • Portrayed as offering a healthier alternative to smoking and quitting tobacco, these devices are now causing a public health crisis among young people.
New Pandemic
  • Instead of helping people quit tobacco, the manufacturers of these new-age gateway devices have discovered a lucrative market — children.
  • This has led to a surge in youth vaping, creating a new pandemic.
  • For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2023, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among middle and high school students in United States, with 2.1 million (7.7%) students using e-cigarettes, including 5,50,000 (4.6%) middle school students.
  • These devices are now getting a new generation hooked on nicotine and exposing them to potential long-term health consequences. 
  • Children have been lured into trying and becoming addicted to e-cigarettes and vaping devices through a targeted marketing of flavours such as strawberry, cotton candy, pop rocks, and lemonade.
  • In addition to alleged predatory marketing tactics, mental health issues and the negative effects of excessive technology use are also driving some children towards these devices.
  • The psychological factors affecting children operate on two levels.
  • First, children are increasingly susceptible to new-age devices from an early age.
  • What was once an adolescent concern, for engaging in distracting activities and developing addictive tendencies, has shifted, with even those under 10 years of age now showing signs of vulnerability.
  • The age group most at risk remains between 10 and 20 years old, a demographic that manufacturers allegedly exploit through appealing advertising and enticing vaping flavours. 
  • The colourful imagery created by these new-age gateway devices suggests that these products will bring happiness and elevate one’s social status in the lives of targeted children.
  • In their eagerness to fit in, children often prioritise peer preferences over their own, leading them to embrace vaping and other harmful behaviours.
  • Those who vape are more likely to experience feelings of loneliness and social isolation when compared to their peers who abstain from these.
  • These psychological factors contribute to a troubling surge in children being drawn to enticing electronic devices such as vapes and e-cigarettes. 
Impact on Physical & Mental well-being
  • While physical impacts such as lung damage and the spread of e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury (EVALI) have become evident, we also need to shine the spotlight on the mental impact on children due to these new-age gateway devices.
  • The Australian Institute of Family Studies, an Australian Government statutory agency, has said that evidence indicates that vaping has negative effects on people who use e-cigarettes.
  • With increasing rates of e-cigarette usage in Australia and worldwide, such new-age gateway devices are associated with mental health challenges such as depressive symptoms, anxiety, perceived stress, and suicide-related behaviours among adolescents.
  • Key risk factors include friends’ positive attitudes towards vaping and parental smoking.
  • E-cigarettes are highly addictive, particularly for individuals up to around the age of 25.
  • This is a developmental stage which makes them especially vulnerable to structural and chemical changes induced by nicotine addiction.
  • Once addiction takes root, it can increase the likelihood of developing other substance use disorders later in life, creating a cycle. 
Way forward
  • e-cigarettes are highly engineered drug delivery devices designed to create and sustain addiction.
  • Later versions of e-cigarettes, especially after 2015, started a more efficient delivery of nicotine.
  • The addition of benzoic acid to the nicotine e-liquid produces protonated nicotine, which enhances the addictive potential by making it easier for users to inhale significant quantities of nicotine — levels that are difficult to achieve with traditional cigarettes or earlier e-cigarette models.
  • This results in heightened addiction and an increased mental dependency on these devices.
  • These new-age gateway devices are also being used to experiment with harder substances such as cannabis, and even cocaine and heroin.
  • Many children, teenagers, and even parents mistakenly believe that vaping only involves harmless water vapour and pleasant flavours.
  • The reality is far more sinister and can lead to a lifetime of substance abuse issues. 
Source- The Hindu

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