Although the origins of vaping can be traced back to 1963, the modern vaping industry was born nearly two decades ago.. In 2001, Hon Lik, a former Chinese pharmacist whose father is said to have died of lung cancer, began working on a new design that would provide the basis for today’s device, but it wasn’t until 2004 that it saw a massive expansion. Chinese pharmaceutical company Ruyan’s export plans to European and American markets. Since then, the booming industry has gone through several more or less successful phases in which demand realigned with supply, various technological improvements and new recipes for vaporized liquids were applied over and over again.
The estimated size of the global e-cigarette market is about 12.3 billion euros in 2020According to the Civismo Foundation study “The Vaping Industry in Spain and its Economic Impact”, which also shows that the Spanish e-cigarette market doubled between 2016 and 2019, with 600,000 e-cigarette users in 2019, The total turnover is nearly 190. million euros.
There have been some setbacks in recent years when alerts from several international and national health organizations forced public authorities to limit its marketing. Against them are legions of consumers who believe it is a worthy alternative to tobacco.
Just a few months ago, the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SemFYC), which comprises more than 22,000 primary care physicians, warned of a worrying increase in the consumption of tobacco products among minors and young adults. The agency has warned that the use of e-cigarettes or hookahs is “multiplying” and there is a danger that when they are “poisonous” the youngest children will “mistakenly believe they are harmless” and a “gateway” to traditional tobacco. A survey conducted by the Spanish Association Against Cancer concluded that 57% of young people believe that vaping is currently popular because the “influencers” or “streamers” they follow do so.
The debate over the effects of vaping on our health and whether vaping is preferable to smoking is now more intense than ever.
Elena Solana is Respiratory Specialist at Arrixaca, responsible for the Smoking Cessation Unit. “The problem we face is that we still don’t know the long-term consequences of vaping because it’s mainly used among young people.”. Being too young also prevents them from learning about the first illnesses that usually occur in young people, as they are usually mild cases such as chronic coughs and are treated in primary care. “When people who vape in their 20s turn 50, we might see lung cancer cases,” he said. Solana added that they have not completed the full study and believe there is a need for comparative controlled trials between smokers and vapers over time.
However, Arizaca’s experts assured that it will be possible “in the short term” to confirm that “very severe pneumonia has been sent to the intensive care unit”. He admits that there are not many cases in Spain, but believes that if it is not stopped, “in the long run this could lead to the development of other diseases that are quite serious at the level of the lungs”, related to the substances that make up the lungs. E-cigarette liquids, such as flavors or glycerin, etc. Bronchiolitis obliterans, lipoid pneumonia or lung cancer are just a few of the conditions associated with these fluids, he says.
In recent years, a new lung disease has even been identified that is directly linked to vaping consumption: Evalí. These lung lesions broke out in 2019, but the arrival of the covid-19 pandemic made that health alarm go away. “A few years ago in the United States, these injuries were happening to young people, and there were very serious cases that required admission to the intensive care unit because of certain illegal substances in vaping products,” such as vitamin E acetate, A chemical that is often used to thicken products purchased on the black market that contain THC, the main cannabinoid found in marijuana.
Of course, one of the major health concerns associated with vaping is nicotine use and the belief that the system is a way to quit smoking. «This is something we have heard many times in the unit, it is a mistake, it does not work for rehab; and In the case of young people, we see that they do not start with cigarettes, but with nicotine, and because nicotine is very addictive, they end up with cigarettes”, laments Elena Solana.
Murcia’s marijuana oil scandal
Murcia has registered its first serious case linked to vaping. A young boy has had to be treated for widespread pneumonia which has caused him to lose a lot of weight.Finally, a pulmonologist from Alisaka found that caused by inhaling cannabis oil. “All oils and glycerin, because of their lipid content, lead to widespread inflammatory pneumonia,” explains Elena Solana, who works to further limit the use of these new forms of smoking through legislation. “There are too many facilities,” he said.