City youth vaping at alarming rate

There is no act or law against selling or making vape products

Hyderabad: Vaping or the use of electronic cigarettes to ingest nicotine without smoking tobacco is growing among youth in the city. On December 9, the Central Zone task force team caught a sales manager with 60 electronic cigarettes, various types of 700 nicotine liquids and Rs 7 lakh worth materials in a residential flat in Khairatabad.

SMOKE SIGNALS
• The e-cigarette first came into the market in 2003
• National Youth Tobacco Survey says e-cigarette use among high school students is rising
• Electronic cigarette, or vaping, is another form of ingesting nicotine without smoking tobacco
• Vape devices are essentially battery packs that heat a coil and turn the juice into vapor
• The juice usually consists of vegetable glycerine and propylene glycol

Vape devices are sold online and at stores in different places in the city. Sharan market near Charminar is a favourite spot for people. A wide range of flavours, vapes, e-cigarettes, nicotine liquids and pipes are sold there. Following occasional crackdown by police, people are now resorting to buying online.

Several owners of pan shops have now started stocking vape products. Sub Inspector of Saifabad Police Station, Saidi Reddy says, “If the youngsters are found smoking vape and e-cigarettes, will counsel them for two days and release them by informing their parents.

But there is no act or a law against using a vape, selling vape or manufacturing vape. He said, there should be a provision, law and order against using vape and selling vape and e-cigarettes products so that it would reduce the consumption of nicotine contain products and many youngsters will save their lives.”
Recently, the Union Health Ministry prohibited the exercise of electronic Nicotine Delivery System (EDS).

What is vape?

Vaporizers are a new technology. Liquid containing nicotine is used to generate smoke and it is heated with a heating machine attached to it that turns a liquid to aerosol or a vaper and that is inhaled into the lungs. Liquids are used in e-cigarettes or vapours these are available in various flavours like pink bubble gum, fruit, menthol and chocolate. This liquid contains a huge amount of nicotine and when it is heated it produces lots of smoke.

But this doesn’t mean they are completely safe, as, at high temperatures, vaporizers produce carcinogens such as formaldehyde which is cancer-causing substances. Most of the Vaporizers & Electronic Cigarettes are manufactured by China and other countries.

It was observed that youth are going on to online shopping websites like a snap deal, Ubuy India and Facebook pages asking for vapours and getting it delivered to their home.

Joel Emmanuel who uses vape since he was 19 now he turned to 25 says that vapours are the alternative for conventional cigarettes. They are less harmful than a cigarette.There is also the risk of vapours acting as a gateway drug for young people and surveys have indicated that vape is likely to increase addictions.