Many will have seen this news item featured yesterday: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/559655/vaping-doubles-risk-of-serious-lung-disease-even-without-smoking-history-study

COPD is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. As the name states it blocks airways so simple flow of oxygen into and carbon dioxide out of the body is undermined.

The figure above in its entirety shows swollen ankles due to heart failure, as the narrowed airways cause a response of constricted blood vessels in the lungs. The heart failure can result mainly as it has to work hard to pump blood into the narrowed vessels. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Symptoms_of_COPD.svg

This is a shocking condition for anyone to be at risk of developing, and more so if they are children and/or have not been advised of the risks of predisposing practices in which they are engaged. In NZ, criminally, the citizens are not properly advised of the risks of vape use.

In NZ the public are mainly just aware of the addiction strongly associated with vaping, serious enough by itself, but the public are not clearly told of the other risks due to chemicals in the vape gas inhaled, risks of which our government has known for years.

A reminder of these from the American Cancer Council

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/tobacco/e-cigarettes-vaping.html

Vapes are not the wonderful replacement for cigarettes that our government has been touting, without stating known serious risks.

Vaping makes money for big tobacco/vape companies like Philip Morris, distributors and the government which gets 15% on each transaction.

Current and future costs to the government and to NZ generally, financial and other, far outweigh this of course.

The high percentage of addicted NZers, youth especially, must be helped to unhook from nicotine. If cold turkey is too hard nicotine can be delivered via patches or gum, both safer than via inhaled concoctions.

A responsible government would never have allowed our youth vape epidemic to develop, and should of course immediately both mount a major campaign to come clean about this toxic product and provide great nation-wide programmes to help unhook youth particularly. 

COPD, heart failure, lung cancer are brutal risk factors of the protocol we still have in NZ, understating risk, and extremely easy access online and from local shops. This is against WHO strong advice to ban or tightly regulate vaping. 

What we have is corrupt. Reducing cigarette use has never justified such lying, as that is what it is, and the extraordinary dynamic and alluring marketing.

(Image - wikipedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Symptoms_of_COPD.svg