Instructions: Read the below 3 articles, and then decide whether you are for or against: Electronic

Cigarette or vaping.

Then develop a synthesized essay by using information from the articles. Do not copy-paste.
Use your own words by summarizing and paraphrasing. You must include in-text citations and
a reference page.

Your essay should follow the below format:

● Title

● An Introduction: Use any type of introduction you have learned followed by the Claim
(Thesis Statement) including the three reasons/warrants.
● TWO Body Paragraphs: Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence introducing the
reason/warrant
followed by two supporting details
● One Body Paragraph: The last body paragraph should include your Counter Argument and
Refutation
● A Conclusion: Use a signal word, restate the thesis statement, and add a Call for Action

Use Article 1: Electronic Cigarettes: Potential Harms and Benefits

electronic cigarettes, devices that deliver a nicotine-containing vapor, has increased rapidly across the
country and globally. Perceived and marketed as a “healthier alternative” to conventional cigarettes,
few data exist regarding the safety of these devices and their efficacy in harm reduction and treatment
of tobacco dependence; even less is known about their overall impact on population health. This review
highlights the recent data regarding electronic cigarette toxicity, impact on lung function, and efficacy
in smoking reduction and cessation. Studies show that the vapor generated from electronic cigarettes
has variable amounts of nicotine and potential harmful toxins, albeit at levels lower than in
conventional cigarettes. The long-term carcinogenic and lung function effects of electronic cigarettes
are not known. Although some data demonstrate that electronic cigarettes may be effective in reducing
conventional cigarette consumption, there are no data demonstrating the efficacy of electronic
cigarettes as a tool to achieve cessation. Until robust longitudinal evaluations demonstrate the safety of
electronic cigarettes and efficacy in treatment of tobacco dependence, their role as a harm reduction
tool is unclear.

The 1964 landmark report by the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Surgeon General was one of the first
to identify the adverse effects of cigarette smoking on health. Although advances have been made in
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diagnosis and treatment of smoking-related diseases, cigarette smoking continues to cause a massive
burden of avoidable disease and premature mortality even into the 21st century. Although the tobacco
epidemic is well entrenched in the United States and Europe, many countries are just starting to
experience the toll from their own rocketing prevalence of tobacco use. Smoking is a risk factor for six
of the eight leading causes of death worldwide, including ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular
disease, lower respiratory infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, tuberculosis, and lung
cancer. There is continued evidence that successful treatment of nicotine addiction improves mortality,
regardless of age at cessation. Data also suggest that in smokers unwilling or unable to quit, smoking
reduction can improve some health outcomes and may ultimately lead to cessation. Over the last 50
years, comprehensive tobacco control programs and evidence-based treatment of tobacco dependence
have demonstrated considerable, though insufficient, success at decreasing initiation of cigarette use in
nonsmokers and in achieving cessation in others. Several nicotine replacement therapies with U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and regulation have been shown to enhance smoking
reduction and cessation. These include nicotine-containing transdermal patches, nasal spray, gum,
lozenges, and cigarette-shaped inhalers. Nonnicotine pharmacotherapies and psychosocial interventions
are also available to improve reduction and cessation rates.

Use of e-cigarettes among U.S. middle and high school students more than doubled from 2011 to 2012.
Among high school students, ever use of e-cigarettes rose from 4.7 to 10.0%, with more than 1.78
million middle and high school students having tried e-cigarettes as of 2012. There is concern that
electronic cigarettes may serve as a gateway to conventional cigarettes. In 2012, 20.3% of middle
school, and 7.2% of high school, ever e-cigarette users reported never smoking conventional cigarettes;
among current e-cigarette users, 61.1 and 80.5%, respectively, reported current conventional cigarette
smoking. An estimated 160,000 students who reported ever using e-cigarettes had never smoked
conventional cigarettes. The percentage of U.S. adult smokers trying e-cigarettes has increased
similarly from 10% in 2010 to 21% in 2011. International surveys show that one out of eight smokers
has tried e-cigarettes, with highest use among younger, nonminority people. Surveys of e-cigarette
users have found that they perceive e-cigarettes as a less harmful, less addictive, and healthier
alternative to conventional cigarettes.

Although there is increasing evidence of e-cigarette use among youth and adults, the population health
impact of e-cigarettes is unknown. Of paramount concern is the risk that their use renormalizes and
reglamorizes smoking, potentially reversing decades of efforts by the public health and medical
communities. In addition to the possible role of e-cigarettes in establishing nicotine addiction and as a
gateway to conventional cigarettes for youth, nicotine itself has a negative impact on adolescent brain
development and on development of the fetal brain, with implications for use during pregnancy.
Because e-cigarettes are not yet widely regulated, they may help perpetuate nicotine dependence in
those who smoke conventional cigarettes and decrease incentives for cessation. Kralikova and
colleagues found that 28.3% of people who use e-cigarettes regularly do so because e-cigarettes are
allowed in places where smoking is banned. Any potential benefits related to cessation or reduction of
conventional cigarette smoking due to e-cigarette use by individuals could be outweighed by an overall
societal increase in nicotine dependence associated with e-cigarette initiation and with a renewed
acceptance of smoking in general.

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 Article 2: Benefits of Vaping vs Smoking
By: V2 Cigs UK Blog
Published:2022 Oct.
URL:https://www.buyv2cigs.co.uk/

Almost all of us know the dangers of smoking these days, and for good reason! It damages the
airways of your lungs, irritating them and causing multiple diseases. Smoking in the UK is the
leading cause of preventable death with decades of research to back up the danger it does to your
health. With 12mg of nicotine in a vape kit equaling one cigarette on average while bearing a
similar resemblance in stature and routine, the argument of which is better between vaping and
smoking is often raised.

Everyone who smokes is recommended to quit because inhaling combustible tobacco creates so
many dangerous toxins. Therefore, the vast majority of active current smokers would like to kick
their habit for good by finding a suitable alternative. There are many medical organizations in the
UK backing e-cigarettes as a safer alternative, from Cancer Research UK to the NHS.

What many people don’t know, however, is how vaping or e-cigarettes, can not only help you
quit but by doing so more safely and effectively. We’ve picked out three top benefits that you
can expect when you make the transition!

1. It’s significantly better for your health

There’s a huge amount of misinformation out there around the safety of vaping, with a lot of
people seeing vaping as just as, if not more dangerous than smoking, when this is categorically
not the case. Vaping is estimated to be 95% better for your health than smoking, and its
effectiveness as a quitting aid means you’re more likely to succeed in cutting down or quitting,
which is the biggest benefit of all.

E-liquids contain far fewer chemicals than cigarette smoke and don’t stay in the body like tar in
the lungs does when you smoke. Those who switch to vaping very quickly see great health
benefits, including lower blood pressure, easier breathing, improved immune function, improved
sense of taste and smell and improved lung function, all within the space of around a month!

2. E-cigarettes are a really effective way to help you quit for good

As we’ve mentioned, e-cigarettes are incredibly effective at helping smokers cut down or quit
smoking for good. More than half of current smokers in the UK expressed a desire to quit, and
the most common reason for using e-cigarettes is to help reduce or quit smoking tobacco,
according to the most recent data from the ONS on smoking habits in the UK. Research also

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shows that vaping is almost twice as effective as traditional nicotine replacement therapies
(NRTs) - this refers to things like nicotine gum, patches, nicotine pouches, lozenges, inhalers
and other more “traditional” quitting aids. One study, in partnership with the NHS stop smoking
service, found that among one group of smokers trying to quit, 18% of e-cigarette users had
stopped smoking tobacco after one year, compared to only 9.9% of traditional NRT users.

There are lots of reasons that vaping is so effective at helping smokers quit, and the nicotine rush
is just one part of the overall experience. Vaping is so effective at helping you quit as it
continues lots of the physical habits and cravings you build up without realizing over months or
years of smoking traditional cigarettes at less harm to yourself. Many smokers struggle with
finding something to do with their hands once they’ve quit - vaping gives you just that!

Even the physical act of inhaling and exhaling smoke or vapour can be something you miss with
patches, gum or lozenges for example. In addition, smoking nicotine is difficult for many to give
up because of its ability as an appetite suppressant, meaning people crave food less. Giving that
up and turning to food - resulting in putting on the pounds to feed that missing addiction - is a
struggle plenty try to resist. But with vaping, you have a suitable alternative, neither leading to
shredding fat or working as a quick weight loss trick. Its effectiveness lies in keeping that
nicotine habit going initially and not going cold turkey to quit cigarettes. Finally, for many
smokers, smoking is a social activity, and this aspect is something they miss when trying to quit.
Vaping allows you to continue the social aspect of smoking, without keeping up a dangerous
habit.

3. Second-hand vapour is not as dangerous as second-hand smoke

For many years, the impact of second-hand smoking has been studied, and results show that
smoking is and continues to be incredibly dangerous to not just smokers themselves, but those
around them as well. The smoke that is exhaled from tobacco products contains more than 5000
chemicals and around 70 known carcinogens (cancer-causing ingredients). Second-hand smoke
is so dangerous because it can be inhaled by other people, not just the smoker. In children, the
effects of second-hand smoke can lead to:

● Increased risk of respiratory infections like bronchitis and pneumonia

● Increased risk of ear, nose and throat infections

● Increased risk of severe asthma and asthma attacks

● Increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (also known as SIDS or cot death)

In adults, second-hand smoke can raise your risk of heart disease, lung cancer and strokes,
among other conditions.

Vaping, on the other hand, has been shown to not have the same risks when it comes to inhaling

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 second-hand vapour. Like everything vaping, there’s still lots we have yet to learn, but all
current evidence shows that the effects of second-hand vapour are negligible, as vapour
evaporates very quickly, making them much safer for those around you when you vape. Some
health professionals do recommend that you avoid vaping around small children and pregnant
women, however, to be on the safe side.

Article 3: NIH-Funded Studies Show Damaging Effects of Vaping, Smoking on Blood Vessels
By: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Published:2022 Oct.
URL:https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/

Long-term use of electronic cigarettes, or vaping products, can significantly impair the function of the
body’s blood vessels, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease. Additionally, the use of both e-
cigarettes and regular cigarettes may cause an even greater risk than the use of either of these products
alone. These findings come from two new studies supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The findings, which appear today in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology,
add to growing evidence that long-term use of e-cigarettes can harm a person’s health. Researchers
have known for years that tobacco smoking can cause damage to blood vessels. However, the effects of
e-cigarettes on cardiovascular health have been poorly understood. The two new studies – one on
humans, the other on rats – aimed to change that.

“In our human study, we found that chronic e-cigarettes users had impaired blood vessel function,
which may put them at increased risk for heart disease,” said Matthew L. Springer, Ph.D., a professor
of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the University of California in San Francisco, and leader
of both studies. “It indicates that chronic users of e-cigarettes may experience a risk of vascular disease
similar to that of chronic smokers.”

In this first study, Springer and his colleagues collected blood samples from a group of 120 volunteers
that included those with long-term e-cigarette use, long-term cigarette smoking, and those who didn't
use. The researchers defined long-term e-cigarette use as more than five times/week for more than
three months and defined long-term cigarette use as smoking more than five cigarettes per day.The
researchers found that blood from participants who used e-cigarettes and those who smoked caused a
significantly greater decrease in nitric oxide production by the blood vessel cells than the blood of
nonusers. Notably, the researchers found that blood from those who used e-cigarettes also caused more
permeability in the blood vessel cells than the blood from both those who smoked cigarettes and
nonusers. Blood from those that used e-cigarettes also caused a greater release of hydrogen peroxide by
the blood vessel cells than the blood of the nonusers. Each of these three factors can contribute to
impairment of blood vessel function in people who use e-cigarettes, the researchers said.

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In addition, Springer and his team discovered that e-cigarettes had harmful cardiovascular effects in
ways that were different from those caused by tobacco smoke. Specifically, they found that blood from
people who smoked cigarettes had higher levels of certain circulating biomarkers of cardiovascular
risks, and the blood people who used e-cigarettes had elevated levels of other circulating biomarkers of
cardiovascular risks.“These findings suggest that using the two products together, as many people do,
could increase their health risks compared to using them individually,” Springer said. “We had not
expected to see that.”

In the second study, the researchers tried to find out if there were specific components of cigarette
smoke or e-cigarette vapor that were responsible for blood vessel damage. In studies using rats, they
exposed the animals to various substances found in tobacco smoke or e-cigarettes. These included
nicotine, menthol (a cigarette additive), the gases acrolein and acetaldehyde (two chemicals found in
both tobacco smoke and e-cigarette vapors), and inert carbon nanoparticles to represent the particle-like
nature of smoke and e-cigarette vapor.

Using special arterial flow measurements, the researchers demonstrated that blood vessel damage does
not appear to be caused by a specific component of cigarette smoke or e-cigarette vapor. Instead, they
said, it appears to be caused by airway irritation that triggers biological signals in the vagus nerve that
somehow leads to blood vessel damage, possibly through an inflammatory process. The vagus is a long
nerve extending from the brain that connects the airway to the rest of the nervous system and plays a
key role in heart rate, breathing, and other functions. The researchers showed that detaching the nerve
in rats prevented blood vessel damage caused by tobacco smoke, demonstrating its key role in this
process. “We were surprised to find that there was not a single component that you could remove to
stop the damaging effect of smoke or vapors on the blood vessels,” Springer said. “As long as there’s
an irritant in the airway, blood vessel function may be impaired.”

The finding has implications for efforts to regulate tobacco products and e-cigarettes, as it underscores
how difficult it is to pinpoint any one ingredient in them that is responsible for blood vessel damage.
“What I like to tell people is this: Just breathe clean air and avoid using these products,” Springer said.

Lisa Postow, Ph.D., an NHLBI program officer in NHLBI’s Division of Lung Diseases, agreed that the
study results “provide further evidence that exposure to e-cigarettes could lead to harmful
cardiovascular health effects.” She added that more data is needed to fully understand the health effects
of e-cigarettes. The NIH and others are continuing to explore this area.

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