Electronic Cigarettes Help Stop Conventional Cigarette Addiction Is Just A Myth

Illustration of electronic cigarettes, which is said to have only a myth as a prevention of conventional cigarette addiction. (Between)

JAKARTA The claim that electronic cigarettes are one of the right ways to quit conventional cigarette addiction is not proven to be true. Instead of avoiding the dangers of nicotine from conventional cigarettes, studies in Indonesia and abroad show that electronic cigarettes cause addiction or addiction.

Electronic cigarettes or also known as vape are quite popular in the past few years, especially among young people. Electronic cigarettes are claimed to be able to raise opportunities for those who want to quit smoking tobacco. However, a number of studies have said that electronic cigarettes have not proven effective in quitting smoking.

Just like tobacco cigarettes, electronic cigarettes also contain three harmful substances that can make users addicted, namely nicotine, carcinogen, and other toxic materials.

The popularity of electronic cigarettes has continued to grow in recent years. The massive circulation of electronic cigarettes cannot be separated from advertisements or promotions for electronic cigarette manufacturers on social media.

According to research involving 1,239 individuals in five major cities in Indonesia (Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, and Yogyakarta), 84 percent of respondents have seen advertisements or promotions for electronic cigarettes on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media.

Respondents who have seen vaping ads with a greater chance of 2.91 times using electronic cigarettes and 2.82 times larger are still actively using electronic cigarettes.

Seeing the promotional method that uses social media, it can be concluded that the target of electronic cigarette manufacturers is among young people who are close to the digital world. With the lure of being safer than conventional cigarettes, not a few young people who were initially trying to become addicted to electronic cigarettes.

Electronic cigarettes or vapes also target those who want to quit smoking conventionally because they are considered safer. Electronic cigarettes often get a label without nicotine, even though according to the Chairman of the Indonesian Lung Specialist Association, Prof. Dr. dr. Agus Dwi Susanto, SpP(K), electronic cigarettes also contain dangerous materials such as conventional cigarettes. So according to him, electronic cigarettes also do not meet the requirements as a smoking stop aid.

"Electronic cigarettes contain three dangerous ingredients, namely nicotine, carcinogens, and other toxic materials," said dr. Agus at the Indonesian Doctors Association webinar, Tuesday (9/1/2024).

A modality to quit smoking should not be used if it can lead to new risks. In fact, in Indonesia, electronic cigarettes are proven to be able to pose a health hazard even though there is no saturation," dr. Agus explained.

Until now, many parties still have difficulty answering questions about what the contents of electronic cigarettes are. The reason is, there is no state agency that oversees the cigarette industry.

Of the various electronic cigarettes circulating in the community, no one accurately describes the ingredients. The results of the US Food and Drug Administration research on 18 different electronic cigarettes found that there were toxins and carcinogenic substances in several brands.

However, claims that electronic cigarettes are no more dangerous than conventional cigarettes seem to have been agreed by the public, including in Indonesia. This can be seen from the prevalence of the high use of e-cigarettes in Indonesia, even ranking first in the world based on the Statistics Source Insights from January to March 2023.

From this data, dr. Agus said as many as 25 percent of Indonesians have used electronic cigarettes at least once. vape users aged 15 years and over have also increased in the last 10 years.

"This figure is higher than 16 percent of Switzerland, the United States is 15 percent, the UK is 13 percent," explained dr. agus again.

According to dr. Agus, there are four things behind them using vape. First, because they think nicotine levels are lower. Second, they choose to use electronic cigarettes because they have many flavors. Meanwhile, the other two reasons are because they are interested in smoke tricks and the rest are following along, aka just walking with trends.

Regarding sensitive electronic cigarettes, the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries in the world to ban the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes. WHO says vape has the potential to encourage nicotine addiction to non-smoking people, especially children and adolescents.

"Children are recruited and framed at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may be addicted to nicotine," said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, quoted from the WHO's official website.

I urge countries to implement strict measures to prevent absorption to protect their citizens, especially children and adolescents.

The dangers of this electronic cigarette have also been revealed by dr. Annisa Dian Harliavasari from the Indonesian Lung Doctors Association. Doctor Annisa said that the results of research on electronic smokers found nicotine levels in her urine found that the value was almost the same as five conventional cigarettes.

Although often campaigned as an alternative product that is safe and without going through arson, said dr. Annisa, on the other hand, or the negative impacts that exist from electronic cigarettes are often not displayed.

According to him, the content of liquids or liquids used in electronic cigarettes such as nicotine levels, as well as other ingredients such as ethylene glycol, is still unclear.

"For example, what kind of nicotine content with levels, there is no random sampling that is carried out on products circulating in the community," said dr. Annisa, quoted by Antara.