The vaping fad that took hold of teenagers and young adults for the last few years has recently been attributed to unknown lung ailments and several deaths. But does this mean it should be banned?
The recent hype about the dangers of vaping is warranted but I think some have gone overboard with restrictions.
While inhaling any chemical is bound to have some consequences, many people thought vape is safer than cigarettes. As a result, people who wouldn't necessarily smoke cigarettes started to vape. However, the lung problems that are appearing indicate that vaping is not as safe as people thought.
Preventing teens from accessing vape, I believe, is a reasonable proposal since it probably has a greater negative effect on teens and they are not fully responsible for making their own choices. Adults, however, should be free to choose if they want to vape or not. If we let adults buy cigarettes, which are known to cause cancer, then we ought to let them buy vaping products if they wish.
New regulations implemented in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Michigan bar anyone from buying flavored vaping products. News reports on the issue revealed that many people were complaining that these regulations will hurt them because they use flavored vaping products to help them quit smoking. The legislation will also impact the livelihoods of many people who sell these products.
According to media reports, several businesses complained that most of their sales came from the flavored kinds of vape and that this new law will likely put them out of business. I can understand wanting to protect people from dangers, but there are a lot more dangerous things that no law is in place to protect people from. It is much more likely that pollution from manufacturing or power plants, which people have no say in what they do, will have a harmful effect on people than flavored vape. It would probably be sufficient to issue warnings to the public on its possible dangers and let them decide for themselves.
I'm sure that contamination and pollution issues exist in all these states, but it seems that only minimal efforts are put to curb that in comparison to the vaping issue. I think Michigan authorities should focus on fixing the contaminated water in Flint, a problem that has been going on for years, rather than banning flavored vape.