Over the past month, New York became another state to approve a ban on electronic cigarettes. This ban was approved just days after a 30-year-old man from Manhattan became the second New Yorker to die from an illness attributed to vaping.

Vaping, which was once considered a ‘healthy’ alternative to traditional smoking, has quickly spread an epidemic of illnesses across the United States. As reported by the Centers for Disease Control, 52 deaths have been attributed to vaping in 26 states. 

But if you’re still convinced that vaping is cool–here are four major health concerns raised from vaping:

1. Respitory Ilnesses

During the summer, it was widely reported that teenagers where hospitalized after having issues with their breathing.

Young, otherwise healthy, individuals ended up in the intensive care unit for respiratory diseases.

With limited knowledge of the illnesses, doctors struggled to understand the direct cause of the diseases. As more incidents of respiratory illness in young individuals began to increase, doctors made the link to vaping.

Patients suffered from coughing, chest pain, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea,  fatigue, abdominal pain, fever, and weight loss.

The first death attributed to vaping was of a 30-year-old woman who had severe respiratory disease after vaping.

2. Nicotine Addiction

Nicotine is a highly addictive substance that can detrimentally affect the developing brain if abused.

Studies found that e-cigarettes that claim they are “nicotine free” also contain nicotine.

A JUUL pod is said to contain 20 traditional cigarettes worth of nicotine.

Addiction to nicotine can lead to lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, heart disease, and even diabetes.

3. Toxic Ingestion

Many e-cigarettes contain flavored liquids that are often marketed towards teenagers. The e-liquids have candy labels and taste sweet, so that more adolescents can buy and consume it.

The flavoring of e-cigarettes makes young smokers easily consume dangerous amounts of nicotine because of its taste. This could lead to nicotine poisoning which can be fatal.

4. Wound Healing Issues

Less commonly reported, this health concern was raised by a recent study that analyzed whether e-cigarettes can contribute to poor wound healing as traditional cigarettes do.

The study tested its hypothesis by exposing rats with healing skin to traditional cigarette smoke and e-cigarette vapor.

After 30 days, researchers found no significant statistical difference in necrosis between the two rat groups.

This study confirms that vaping carries the same detrimental effect of necrosis as traditional smoking does.

Because the effects of vaping are still being investigated, as time progresses, there may be even more health issues connected to smoking e-cigarettes.