Alert on the increasing use of electronic cigarettes by young people

<! –

->

Young consumers of electronic cigarettes are under the age of 24, said Daniel Buljubasich, president of the Argentinian Association of Respiratory Medicine (AAMR), who recently attended the first international forum on electronic cigarettes, which took Is held in the city. from Buenos Aires.
The forum, which was part of the 46th Argentine Congress of Respiratory Medicine and which ended this Sunday in Puerto Madero, brought together the leaders of the AAMR, the Latin American Thoracic Association ( ALAT), European companies of pneumology and pneumology and surgery. Pneumonology and thoracic (separate) and Mexican (SMNYCT) surgery, among other global references.
The electronic cigarette, also called vaporizer or vapeador, consists of a cigarette-shaped container or the like, an internal battery generating heat and a charge with a liquid solution that, when heated, produces a vapor that carries different substances to inhale (vaping). ).
The liquid solution is composed of nicotine, aroma and other chemicals that, when heated, generate not only nicotine-based aerosols, but also other chemicals. toxic and carcinogenic to health.
"In Argentina, the sale of electronic cigarettes is prohibited, but it is public information that is marketed anyway.In addition, we are in a country where the framework agreement has not been ratified and we have not managed to make it a public health policy, "Buljubasich acknowledged.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), in force since February 2005, is the first international treaty on public health to establish a package of measures to combat Epidemic of smoking. So far, 181 countries have ratified the Framework Convention, while Argentina is one of the few countries not to have signed it in 2003, even though it has signed it.
According to Buljubascih, one of the main conclusions of the forum is that it is the young people who consume the most vaporizers. "Youth smoking today is alarming, in our country, 26.7% of the population aged 18-24 smoke," said the latest epidemiological study on tobacco consumption by the government. Program Secretariat for the Prevention of Drug Addiction and the Fight Against Drug Trafficking in 2016.
In this sense, Gustavo Zabert, president of the ALAT, stressed that "what attracts the most young people are the aromas".
"Fruit trees and chocolate flavor are the most popular among consumers of electronic cigarettes, and in principle we try to limit these flavors and advertising space to reduce consumption," he said.
Asked about the belief that the new devices are less harmful than regular tobacco, ERS President Mina Gaga said: "When they ask me if it is true that it is less harmful than the traditional cigarette, there is no information I answer as follows: according to a study conducted in the United States, only 36% of people who were shot in the head with a rifle 22 caliber die because of this injury, can we say that it is less harmful than other caliber?
According to the WHO, certain substances detected in the vapors of electronic cigarettes present toxic and carcinogenic risks, while the aerosols that they emit "constitute a new source of atmospheric pollution".