World No Tobacco Day is celebrated on 31 May, and this year's theme is "Committing to Quit smoking and Sharing a Smoke-Free Environment".
The latest "China Smoking Hazards Health Report 2020" released by the National Health Commission shows that the number of smokers in China exceeded 300 million, and in 2018, the smoking rate of people over 15 years old in China was 26.6%, of which the smoking rate of men was 50.5%. More than 1 million people lose their lives to tobacco in our country each year, and if effective action is not taken, it is expected to increase to 2 million people per year by 2030 and 3 million people per year by 2050. Compared with the old version of the report released by the former Ministry of Health in 2012, this report has added a new section on the health hazards of e-cigarettes.
In recent years, in addition to ordinary tobacco, e-cigarettes have swept the market with slogans that can help quit smoking and cause less harm, and e-cigarette stores or counters have sprung up in major shopping malls, subway shops and even roadside shops. Some time ago, after 9 college students in Nanjing smoked online shopping e-cigarettes, the news that they were admitted to the hospital for rescue due to symptoms such as dizziness, irritability, and breathing difficulties attracted everyone's attention. For some teenagers, smoking e-cigarettes has also become a symbol of fashion and personality.
In China, the use of e-cigarettes shows a clear growth trend, and the use of e-cigarettes may make it easier for people to use cigarettes, which is especially obvious among adolescents
The "2015 China Adult Tobacco Survey Report" shows that the use rate of e-cigarettes in People aged 15 and over in China is only 0.5%, and most of them are used incidentally.
The "2018 China Adult Tobacco Survey Report" shows that the use rate of e-cigarettes in China has risen to 0.9%, and the number of people using e-cigarettes is about 10.35 million, of which the proportion of young people using them is relatively high, and the age group of 15 to 24 years old is 1.5%, which is the highest among all age groups.
The 2019 Tobacco Survey for Chinese Secondary School Students shows that the e-cigarette use rate of junior high school students is 2.7%, 2.2% of ordinary high school students, and 4.5% of vocational school students.
The results of a meta-analysis of 91,051 adolescents showed that adolescents were 2.21 times more likely to become cigarette users after using e-cigarettes than those who did not use e-cigarettes. In addition to attracting young people to use cigarettes, e-cigarettes themselves also have a negative impact on the physical and mental health and growth of adolescents. The 2016 U.S. Surgeon General's Report on e-cigarette use in adolescents showed that nicotine in e-cigarettes affects the brain development of adolescents, and adolescent use can have an impact on adolescents' attention, learning, mood swings and impulse control.
E-cigarettes are not non-toxic and harmless, and long-term smoking will be harmful to health!
E-cigarettes mostly contain the addictive substance nicotine. Teen exposure to nicotine can affect brain development, leading to learning disabilities and anxiety disorders. Due to the mixed nature of e-cigarette products and the lack of supervision of production, the actual nicotine content of many e-cigarettes far exceeds the label content, and the harm to the human body is difficult to predict.
The aerosol released by the e-cigarette after heating can produce carcinogens such as formaldehyde, nicotine, nitrosamines, benzene, etc., and as the power and atomization temperature of the e-cigarette increase, the release of carcinogens increases exponentially.
There are dozens of heavy metals in the smoke of e-cigarettes, with the highest content of nickel and chromium.
The flavoring agent in e-cigarettes can increase the release of free radicals after heating; 2,3-butanedione in aerosols can aggravate respiratory inflammation, and in severe cases, it can block all small airways, forming "popcorn lungs".
Vaping e-cigarettes may cause acute lung injury, acute eosinophilic pneumonia, diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, allergic pneumonia, mechanized pneumonia, lipid-like pneumonia, and severe asthma.
Most adults who use e-cigarettes to quit smoking do not stop smoking, but continue to use e-cigarettes and smoke cigarettes at the same time, and there will be a superposition of health hazards caused by two or more tobacco products.
A survey of e-cigarettes conducted by residents in Beijing showed that 34.7% of smokers had throat irritation or adverse reactions such as cough, dry mouth, and nausea after using e-cigarettes.
The "scent" of e-cigarettes and the cartoon patterns on the packaging will also increase the possibility of children accidentally eating e-cigarette liquid.
iScience published a new study by the University of California, San Diego, which found that chemicals in e-cigarettes can break the intestinal barrier and trigger inflammation in the body, which can lead to various health problems.
Many people regard e-cigarettes as "smoking cessation artifacts", which is a very wrong approach! So far, there is no clear evidence that e-cigarettes can help quit smoking, and the WHO does not recommend e-cigarettes as an aid to quit smoking. The US CdC clearly warns that e-cigarettes contain a variety of harmful substances such as nicotine, the use of e-cigarettes is not only harmful, excessive consumption can cause death, and people who smoke e-cigarettes will be more likely to smoke cigarettes in the future and become new smokers.
Therefore, e-cigarettes do not help to quit smoking, quitting smoking requires a scientific method!
The image comes from the Internet