Vaping has been viewed as something of a trendier and less harmful substitute for smoking in recent years. The colours and flavours of disposable vapes in particular may attract people young and old to buy them.
The number of Scots vaping has spiked in recent years. In October 2022, 13.2 per cent of adults aged 16 and older in Scotland reported using e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, according to the Scottish Government.
Incredibly, this extends to those under 16 – 51,000 of those youngsters in Scotland vaped in the year ending January 2023. Vaping is less harmful than smoking, the NHS admits, but it’s not risk-free.
On Thursday, it was announced that Hollyoaks star Paul Danan had died aged 46 following a health battle. The star revealed in June last year that he was given CPR after an “obsessive” use of vapes led to respiratory failure.
The reality star collapsed at his home and had to be brought back to life by his family. During his week in intensive care, he contracted pneumonia and blamed his years of smoking for his health woes. Danan said at the time “I’m upstairs puffing away on my vape then suddenly I lost my breath and collapsed… My family were warned I might not make it through the night. I’m so lucky.”
So, what are the health implications of vaping? Vaping can cause addiction, lung injury, and other health issues, according to the NHS. Short-term effects include addiction, as nicotine is addictive and can be hard to stop. Nicotine withdrawal can cause headaches and disrupt sleep.
Vaping can cause lung damage, also known as e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury (EVALI). This can lead to inflammation and tissue damage as well as chronic cough, shortness of breath, and other respiratory issues. Poisoning through taking large doses of nicotine and trauma through burns is also a possibility.
It is crucial to point out that you might not see the impact of vaping on your health immediately. Puffing on the pen over a long period of time can catch up with you and manifest in serious health conditions later down the line.
An NHS doctor recently warned that the truth about the dangers of vaping will “take decades to come through”. Dr Ahmed Ezzat, who posts on TikTok as Dr Mish Mash, said there are lots of parallels between cigarettes and vapes.
“If you look at smoking, it took 40 years [to see the health implications],” the London-based doc said. “Let’s wait another few decades and see what happens with vaping.”
He went on to warn: “Just because there isn’t enough evidence yet to prove that it’s harmful, it doesn’t mean in any way that there is no harm. They could be very harmful, and the effects won’t be known until 20 or 30 years.”
This month, Belgium became the first European Union country to ban sales of e-cigs due to concerns around health care and the environmental damage they cause. Scotland and the UK plan to ban the sale and supply of single-use vapes in June for the same reasons.
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – Sign up to our newsletterhere.