Authorities have discovered many types of addictive substances in the solution of TLĐT.
Emergency cases in a row
The Emergency Department of Quang Ninh General Hospital received two cases of students, VBN and NTQ (grade 11) from Ha Long City, who were admitted with symptoms of agitation, rapid breathing, sweating, dizziness, and nausea. The patients had a history of good health and used electronic cigarettes infrequently. After examination, the doctor diagnosed both of them with electronic cigarette poisoning. The on-duty team quickly provided initial first aid and transferred them to the Intensive Care Unit for monitoring and treatment. Up to now, the two students have stabilized and have been discharged from the hospital.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid solution (usually containing nicotine), turning it into a vapor and aromatic smoke that the smoker can inhale into the lungs. Most current e-cigarette models use a cartridge containing the solution - either disposable or refillable for continued use - and have many different names such as vape, vaporizer cigarette, e-cigs, e-hookahs, vape, vape pen, ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery system), ENNDS (non-nicotine delivery system) ... They are designed in a variety of eye-catching shapes, which can resemble a traditional cigarette or a pen, a flash drive, a lipstick shape ... so students can easily bring them into class without being detected by teachers.
Behind the "self-expression", self-proclaimed "coolness", "stylishness"... many young people were taken to the emergency room in a state of shock, coma, psychosis, hallucinations or respiratory failure due to poisoning from chemicals in the solution of TLĐT. According to incomplete statistics, from the end of 2022 to now, a series of poisoning cases caused by TLĐT on students have been recorded nationwide. Specifically, on August 17, 2022, Hospital 199 - Ministry of Public Security (located in Son Tra district, Da Nang city) treated a patient who was poisoned when smoking TLĐT injected with essential oils in a state of dizziness, anxiety, trembling hands and feet, then fell into a coma. Then, on August 22, 2022, 7 students of Yen Hung Private High School, Quang Yen town, Quang Ninh province shared a TLĐT cigarette, then felt dizzy and vomited right in class. The group was taken to the Quang Yen Town Medical Center for emergency treatment. On August 31, 2022, two male students in grade 12 at Ha Tinh - Duc Cong Nghe Vietnamese College showed signs of eye-rolling, screaming, and uncontrolled behavior right in the classroom. After being treated, they revealed that they had previously used electronic devices.
On October 1, 2022, the Emergency Department of the Xanh Pon General Hospital ( Hanoi ) received a patient born in 2006 in Thach That, Hanoi in a comatose state, with maximally dilated pupils. The patient was intubated. After waking up, the patient said he had inhaled ecstasy injected with essential oils purchased on the market. On December 5, 2022, 7 third-grade students from Hoang Liet Primary School, Hoang Mai District, Hanoi were taken to the Pediatrics Department of Bach Mai Hospital for emergency treatment in a state of nausea and headache, also due to trying or inhaling ecstasy. On December 7, 2022, a 5-year-old boy in Hanoi drank about 5ml of yellow ecstasy solution. 15 minutes later, he showed signs of convulsions, vomiting, and then fell into a coma and was taken to the National Children's Hospital for emergency treatment. Test results showed that the child was positive for ADB-BUTINACA, a new synthetic drug. Most recently, Bai Chay Hospital (Quang Ninh) admitted 4 students (born in 2008) to the emergency room due to using electronic cigarettes. It is known that about 1 hour before being admitted to the hospital, the students used electronic cigarettes of unknown type and origin. Afterwards, the patients experienced dizziness, general discomfort, weakness, trembling hands and feet, chest tightness, difficulty breathing, nausea, and vomiting in large quantities...
Urgent need to ban circulation
Doctor Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Poison Control Center of Bach Mai Hospital, said that the solution in TLĐT is a mixture of water, food flavoring, and nicotine in different concentrations, which can easily be mixed with liquid drugs such as marijuana, synthetic drugs, propylene glycol (PG) or vegetable glycerin, along with PG and VG - humectants that evaporate like cigarette smoke.
E-cigarettes are advertised as less harmful than traditional cigarettes, but in reality the amount of nicotine in e-cigarettes is higher. Specifically, regular cigarettes have a nicotine content of 1.5-2%, the highest is 3% (for heavy smokers, smoking 2 packs/day). But in e-cigarettes, there are products with a content of up to 3-5%. And especially, when the solution is heated, the amount of nicotine enters the body more easily and in greater amounts.
According to the World Health Organization, no tobacco product is safe. Electronic cigarettes containing nicotine are still addictive and toxic, causing cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive diseases... Dr. Ngo Anh Vinh, Deputy Head of the Department of Adolescent Health (National Children's Hospital) affirmed: "Nicotine is harmful to brain development in children, causing memory loss, and can even cause the risk of angina, heart failure, stroke, immunodeficiency, and reduced resistance. Electronic cigarettes with burning solution tubes do not have quantification of nicotine and impurities, leading to the risk of users increasing the dose of nicotine and causing acute poisoning".
Not only that, studies worldwide on people aged 13-19 (from 2005-2019 in Europe and North America) show that smoking e-cigarettes increases the initiation of regular cigarette smoking in adolescents. Specifically, smoking e-cigarettes at age 14 leads to an increased risk of smoking regular cigarettes at age 17. Along with that, the risk of drug use is 3.5 times higher than not smoking e-cigarettes, increasing the risk of drinking alcohol, and using the wrong medicine. In Vietnam, authorities have repeatedly detected addictive substances such as drugs and synthetic marijuana in e-cigarettes. Currently, many countries have banned e-cigarettes; in particular, China, the country that invented and produced the most e-cigarettes in the world, has issued a ban on flavored e-cigarettes since October 2022 (almost all e-cigarette products).
Electronic cigarettes are completely harmful to health, are the beginning of a trend of abuse, addiction, and uncontrollable exposure to synthetic chemicals by humans, creating a series of new diseases, aggravating the problem of traditional cigarettes, and complicating and aggravating the drug problem. Therefore, policy makers and authorities need to urgently ban the circulation of electronic cigarettes in Vietnam to minimize the current electronic cigarette problem among minors.
THAO LAM
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