Electronic cigarettes seriously affect the health of teenagers

Nicotine in e-cigarette products is highly addictive and is harmful to the brain development of adolescents, because their brains are still developing until the age of 25.

According to the Tobacco Harm Prevention Fund ( Ministry of Health ), in Vietnam, in 2023, the rate of students from grades 6 to 12 using e-cigarettes was 7.0%. The rate of e-cigarette use among students in the 13-17 age group increased from 2.6% in 2019 to 8.1% in 2023. In the 13-15 age group, the rate more than doubled from 3.5% in 2022 to 8% in 2023.

Electronic cigarettes with eye-catching designs appeal to the tastes of teenagers.

Nicotine has been shown to impair adolescent brain maturation with serious short-term and long-term consequences including addiction, cognitive and emotional disorders, learning disabilities, and psychiatric disorders. Nicotine-induced changes in the nervous system make users in this age group more susceptible to nicotine addiction and thus health effects that will occur earlier and more severely in the future. Nicotine exposure is also particularly harmful to the health of mothers and fetuses during pregnancy, causing premature birth, stillbirth, and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Electronic cigarettes and new forms of tobacco are opening up a trend of abuse and addiction to synthetic chemicals, including nicotine, new generation drugs and many other chemicals, not only causing a huge new burden on health, economy , security and order but also affecting the race and many other areas.

Electronic cigarettes with attractive designs and packaging for children in many forms, using hundreds of flavors to attract young people, sold on social networks, have attracted young people to buy and use. Many students secretly bring electronic cigarettes to school, invite each other to smoke, causing serious health consequences.

Recently, many students and teenagers addicted to e-cigarettes have had to be hospitalized due to poisoning, especially marijuana poisoning in e-cigarettes, causing coma and cardiac arrest.

The National Assembly has issued a Resolution banning the production, trading, import, and use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products from 2025, officially considering these products as prohibited goods in Vietnam from January 1, 2025. The use of e-cigarettes among adolescents is still happening; even adults are openly smoking e-cigarettes in public.

The Ministry of Health is drafting a Decree on penalties for acts related to e-cigarettes, which is being proposed by the Ministry of Health, with the aim of issuing a complete legal framework to implement the National Assembly's Resolution, agreeing to ban e-cigarettes from 2025. According to the draft, the act of using e-cigarettes will be fined from 3-5 million VND, and the act of knowing but not preventing others from using them at the location under their management will be fined from 5-10 million VND.

Cigarettes and products called electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products are harmful to health because they contain carcinogens and nicotine, which is addictive. Therefore, to protect health, parents and schools need to strongly propagate the harmful effects of electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products and the bans to raise awareness to give up, protect the health of themselves and the community.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/y-te/thuoc-la-dien-tu-anh-huong-nghiem-trong-den-suc-khoe-thanh-thieu-nien-i779287/