Plagued | Teen Ink

Plagued

October 1, 2019
By RadSam19 BRONZE, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
RadSam19 BRONZE, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Imagine you or a loved one has been smoking for many years and are trying to stop. They’ve tried everything, but nothing has worked. But then, they hear about vapes and Juul. They try it, hearing that it is a way to get off smoking and realize the harsh truth. It ends up being more addictive than cigarettes, and they get off vapes as quick as they can. Now imagine you’re an adult, and you’ve found out that you child has been influenced and has started to vape. Not just your child, but their entire generation, plagued by the dangers of vaping. Is this what you want the world to turn into? Who is responsible for this crisis? 
In my opinion, everyone is responsible for this crisis. Now you may ask, everyone? Isn’t it the dumb teens or menacing companies? Some may even say it’s no one’s responsibility because they believe vapes are safe, but they’re wrong. It’s our job as a society to better those around us in order to improve the world and make a change. And yes, the companies and teens are a large part of the problem. For instance, the companies, especially Juul, have targeted these harmful products to young, impressionable teens, and have plagued their bodies and minds with products such as nicotine, THC, and vitamin E acetate. 
Now, you may be wondering what exactly does it do to the bodies and minds of teens for it to be so harmful and addictive? In many types of vapes, there is a large quantity of nicotine. In a single Juul pod, it is shown to have as much nicotine as 20 cigarettes. This is such a large problem because nicotine affects the frontal lobe of the brain. Before the age of around 25, your brain is still developing, this means teens are especially vulnerable to that quantity of nicotine. It damages your ability of thinking and decision making and is even more addictive. And yet, the large companies still target vapes to the teens. While many of the factors are still unknown, there is one common contributor to the deaths, the injury of their lungs. As you vape, an oily substance called vitamin E acetate builds up in your lungs, as well as other liquids. It is basically drowning you from the inside, because of this factor, there have been 15 deaths in the past 2 months, and it’s still growing. Not only that, but 800+ people have been hospitalized too. This is a crisis we need to stop. The statistics show that 27.5% of high schoolers have vaped in the last 30 days (when the survey was taken). That’s too many teens in danger of being plagued by vaping. 
Because of the information shared above, there have been many arguments about who is responsible, but the truth is, it’s everyone; we need to act fast. 
This topic is important because of the impact vapes and e-cigarettes have on the youth today. In order to stop this chaos, everyone needs to take responsibility. The FDA needs to take a stand and either regulate the products or temporarily ban them until more information is known. Adults and teens need to spread awareness of the dangers. The companies need to remove these harmful products from shelves and realize that earning some money isn’t worth spreading the plague that is destroying the youth and the next generation.



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