MIAMI – Concerns about the safety of e-cigarettes are being raised again in the wake of a ruling by the Food and Drug Administration to pull JUUL brand products off the market.
Dr. Mark Dylewski, Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Baptist Health South Florida’s Miami Cancer Institute said that while e-cigarettes don’t carry the carcinogens of traditional combustible cigarettes, they could pose a higher risk of nicotine addiction.
“Unless you really understand how these pens work you could accidentally hit the button two or three times and you’re delivering a much higher dose of nicotine to you than you would normally get in combustible cigarettes. We know nicotine is very addictive. If you take more nicotine accidentally you’re going to become more addicted and if you ever go back to combustibles you’ll need to smoke more to get the same dose of nicotine, thus increasing the toxins that are delivered to you,” Dylewski said.
Dylewski said the heat generated by e-cigarettes could also cause the release of tiny metal flakes from the devices to enter the body, the health effects of which are currently unknown.
COVID Vaccine Update
According to researchers, COVID-19 vaccines saved nearly 20 million lives in the first year.
A study by Imperial College London used information from 185 countries.
Researchers found vaccines saved more than four million lives in India and nearly two million in the U.S.
According to the study, an additional 600,000 lives could have been saved if the World Health Organization’s vaccine goal of 40 percent had been met by the end of 2021.