Electronic cigarette use among college students more than doubled between 2018 and 2020, especially among women, who are now more likely to smoke e-cigarettes than traditional cigarettes, a Health Promotion Administration (HPA) survey found.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare agency yesterday shared the results at a news conference in Taipei to encourage the passage of a law that would ban the growing industry.
The Executive Yuan on Jan. 13 passed amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) that seek to ban e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products outright.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
It would also raise the legal smoking age to 20 from 18, and expand a smoking ban in public areas to include indoor and outdoor spaces at universities, preschools, daycare and live-in childcare centers.
The bill is currently awaiting deliberation in the legislature, making it unclear when it might pass into law.
Meanwhile, more people are becoming addicted to vaping — another word for e-cigarette use — attracted by its trendiness and enticing flavors, the HPA said.
Six reported cases of lung damage between February 2020 and September last year are also potentially linked to vaping, adding to growing evidence worldwide of its associated dangers, HPA Tobacco Control Division Director Chen Miao-hsin (陳妙心) said.
Experts highly suspect three of the cases in men aged between 16 and 56 to be caused by vaping, while the other three — a 22-year-old woman, a 31-year-old man and a 42-year-old man — reported asthma likely exacerbated or induced by vaping, she said.
Duration of use spanned a half month to four years, while five also smoked traditional cigarettes and one had previously quit, she added.
Most of the top 10 causes of death in Taiwan are linked to smoking, totaling at least 20,000 people every year, said Chen Mu-jung (陳木榮), a pediatrician at Your Doctor Clinic in New Taipei City.
Put another way, someone dies of a smoking-related condition every 20 minutes, he added.
In its survey, the HPA found that although there was little change in traditional cigarette use among college students between 2018 and 2020, vaping increased dramatically from 2.5 to 5.4 percent.
There was also a rise in people who reported using both, from 1.5 percent in 2018 to 2.5 percent in 2020.
Sole usage of e-cigarettes jumped from 1 percent to 2.5 percent over the period, showing that vaping is rising in popularity on college campuses, even among those who do not smoke cigarettes, the agency said.
Also worthy of note was its popularity among women, with 3.2 percent of female college students vaping to only 1.9 percent who smoke cigarettes.
Most respondents chose to start using e-cigarettes because of their variety of flavors (30.9 percent), as well as not wanting a tobacco flavor (29.6 percent), peer pressure (28.9 percent) and because they believe vaping does not pose a serious health risk (24.9 percent).
Campus exposure to secondhand smoke also slightly increased from 47 to 48.8 percent over the period, meaning that about half of college students reported being regularly exposed to secondhand smoke.
It is most prevalent in smoking areas (34.6 percent), followed by campus entrances (23.7 percent) and open spaces (18.2 percent).
More than 7,000 kinds of chemicals are found in the tobacco of traditional cigarettes, 93 of which are carcinogenic, Chen Mu-jung said.
However, vaping oil can contain as many as 15,000 types of additives, including more than 41 harmful substances, he said.
There have been many cases reported internationally of lung damage linked to vaping, and now cases are appearing in Taiwan, he added.
The HPA and doctors urged support for the amendments, as legal assistance could help “protect the health of the next generation.”
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