Smoking and tobacco use india

 Portrayed as offering a healthier alternative to smoking and quitting tobacco, these devices are now causing a public health crisis among young people

new-age devices for children

such as 

• e-cigarettes, 
• vaping pens, 
• Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, 
• ENDS, 
• heat-not-burn (HNB) devices 
• other heated tobacco products (HTPs). 

Why this is good according to manufACTURER ?

All these devices were portrayed to offer a healthier alternative to smoking that would make it easier to quit tobacco. 

But the reality is quite different. Instead, they have 

• caused a public health crisis,
•  causing physical harm 
• and affecting the mental well-being of children.
• 
  

A new pandemic

कम्पनियां कैसे बच्चों को लुभा रही ?

Instead of helping people quit tobacco, the manufacturers of these new-age gateway devices have discovered a lucrative market — children.. 

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.

Children have been lured into 

1 They 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.

 2 they use 

• 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

Children are More vulnerable group 

1 children are increasingly susceptible to new-age devices from an early age. 

2 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. 

3 The age group most at risk remains between 10 and 20.

4 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.

 Group idea preferred by children 

In their eagerness to fit in, children often prioritise peer preferences over their own, leading them to embrace vaping and other harmful behaviours. 

Why they consume ?

experience feelings of loneliness and social isolation when compared to their peers who abstain from these.

A gateway to danger

physical and mental impact on children

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.

vaping has negative effects on people who use e-cigarettes 

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. 

mental health challenges are  risk ?

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 age of 25 yrs 

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.

Survey’s findings

अलग अलग सुर्वे से क्या पता चलता है ? 

JAMA Network Open study  2022

that more adolescent e-cigarette users reported using their first tobacco product within five minutes of waking when compared to users of cigarettes and other tobacco products combined. 

The study further said 

that 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.

experiment with harder substances 

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.

सोर्स the  हिन्दू