Lost In The Smoke

• READ

  
  

  Wai'anae, Hawai'i
  February 19, 2014- Wai'anae, Hawaii
  
  E-Cigarettes may seem like the hot new trend in Hawaii, but according to abcnews.com they were invented in the 1960s.
  
  An Electronic Cigarette or E-Cig is a device that contains nicotine, in which you receive through vapor inhalants. Not only does it give of nicotine but it also comes in non-nicotine, where users do it for the vape. With the E-Cigs there is over a hundred different vapor flavors ranging from fruit to coffee base to dessert styles. The E-Cig is starting to trend all over the world, especially in Hawai’i. Volcano Fine Electronic Cigarettes a worldwide seller of the product has opened and expanded to ten stores statewide. It’s was built on the theory that it’ll be a better alternative than smoking and also a way for regular smokers to get nicotine in a “healthier way”. Since it’s still new and known for now as unharmful E-Cig smokers enjoy the rule of vaping in any public setting.
  
  “Everywhere, Cars, Beach you know you can smoke it pretty much anywhere,” said E-Cig smoker Vaughn Osterna.
  
  There is always the possibility of having harmful effects.
  
  “There are many health risks, the most important one that we actually know is that nicotine is a very addictive substance,” said Dr. Nicolas Nelken.
  
  Dr. Nelken works as a Vascular Surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in Moanalua, Hawaii. He is very familiar on how cigarettes affect people internally and just like others is trying to see if E-Cigarettes do similar damage.
  
  “E-Cigs are still very very new, I would remind you that it took twenty years to figure out that cigarettes were associated with cancer, twenty years from now we’re gonna start seeing what bad health effects are with E-Cigs, so it’s very difficult to know,” said Nelken.
  
  What officials and the people of Hawaii do know is that in the beginning of 2014, DOH banned cigarette smoking on all city beaches, parks, pools, and athletic facilities. The thing is E-Cigarettes were exempt from the law because officials don’t know how it much it’ll affect others with secondhand smoke.
  
  Reasonings of why the ban on cigarettes were place was because it’s common knowledge to the public on how it could cause cancer.
  
  “About five thousand identified chemicals, four thousand of these are known to be poisonous. That’s why cigarettes are so bad for you, only one of those is nicotine,” said Dr. Nelken.
  
  Since E-Cigarettes lack many of the chemicals that occur in secondhand smoke, they able to see the limelight, as officials didn’t place a ban yet.
  
  “Now whether banning E-Cigarettes has an effect on cigarettes or not is a difficult thing to know. I’ll tell you since we know so little about the long term effect of E-Cigarettes, I think it’s prudent to release them carefully and very slowly liberalize use if it becomes clear that they are safe but since we don’t know that it seems prudent also to lump them in with cigarettes in terms of their use”, suggest Nelken.
  
  As for now the Hawaii State Lawmakers limited the use of cigarette smoke in public areas, but for E-Cigarettes it’s a future still left hazy.

---

looking back

It's a scary thing to think about knowing that E-Cigarettes is still an unknown threat to the public.  All we can do is wait for time to say.

Delilah Rountree, Reporter

---

I thought that e-cigs were the future and that they were going to change the way we view cigarettes but right now its like they hurt more than they help.
Jonathan Evangelista, Photographer

---

I never thought that e-digs had a negative impact on your health. It's definitely something to worry about.



Darius Adams, Photographer

---