Vietnam reached an alarming e-cigarette usage rate, including heated cigarette products among its students, which often leads to e-cigarette poisoning.
What are E-cigarettes?
E-cigarettes usually come in different sizes and shapes, are powered by a battery, or heating element, and contain a liquid. It produces an aerosol by heating the liquid or “juice” that users breathe from the device. This smoke contains nicotine, cancer-causing chemicals, nickel, tin, lead and other toxic and possibly harmful substances.
E-cigarette Usage Lead to Poisoning
The Health Ministry’s Medical Examination and Treatment Department is deeply concerned about appropriating electronic nicotine delivery products. It also includes heated tobacco products among young people, specifically students. After using the stuff, several students were brought to the hospital due to e-cigarette poisoning. It was found that nicotine and other dangerous substances in e-cigarettes and heated cigarettes caused it.
“Using nicotine during adolescence can cause harm to the parts of the brain that control attention, learning ability, and mood. It can also increase the risks of addiction to other substances in the future,” said Nguyen Tuan Lam, a World Health Organisation expert in Vietnam.
Moreover, E-cigarettes and heated cigarettes likewise instigate probable risks and could lead to social evils. It may include drug abuse and other hooking behaviours, badly affecting the health and total well-being of a person.
Last year, there was a small decline in the number of people who smoked tobacco in Vietnam. However, the country still ranked third among SEA countries with the highest smoking frequency following Indonesia and the Philippines.
E-cigarette Smoking Increases Among Vietnamese Teen Students
The government is finding ways how to curb smoking, especially the use of e-cigarettes among teen students who are 13 to 15 years old. Around 3.5% were documented to use them in 2022, according to the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Education and Training report. Additionally, there are also records among adolescents and young adults usage with about seven in 100, ranging from 15 to 24 years old.
WHO suggested that e-cigarette heated tobacco products are more dangerous compared to traditional cigarettes. The former can result in premature health effects or interstitial lung disease. It develops quickly and has a more severe outlook than lung cancer.
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