UNCLOUD VAPING

Real
Facts

At last, some truths behind vaping everyone needs to know.

8 Things you
Need to know

#1 Nic-sick

#2 Burns

#3 Toxic crap

#4 Addiction

#5 Poisoning

#6 Environment

#7 second-hand vaping

#8 Smoking

#1 Nic-sick

#2 Burns

#3 Toxic crap

#4 Addiction

#5 Poisoning

#6 Environment

#7 second-hand vaping

#8 Smoking

Feeling NIC-SICK? You’re being poisoned

Nicotine is addictive af, but it can also be toxic at high levels. It’s called ‘acute nicotine toxicity’. AKA, the nic-sick is real. And dangerous. You might start by feeling nauseous, but it can lead to vomiting, headaches, coughing, or it can even knock you unconscious.

If you or a mate are sick of being nic-sick, there’s always help ditching vapes for good, over here.

Vapes can literally blow up in your face

Besides the fact vapes contain toxic chemicals, their sketchy batteries can sometimes explode causing burns and injuries. Not great if your vape is in your mouth… But even worse if it’s in your pocket, right near your… Well, you get the picture. But if you want some actual pictures, Google ‘vape burns’. We’re warning you before Google SafeSearch does: they’re pretty full on. Turns out vaping really can blow up in your face.

Behind fake grape taste are real toxic chemicals

What do weed killer, paint stripper, rat poison and bleach have in common? They all contain ingredients that have been found in vapes. ‘E-liquids’ vary wildly in their ingredients. A 2019 study identified 243 unique chemicals in e-liquids from vapes. Vapes were also found to include substances that are harmful to people in high doses like formaldehyde (which is used to preserve dead bodies), heavy metals (nickel, lead & chromium), and toxic chemical solvents.

If toxic chemicals and heavy metals like these go into vape liquids, what do you reckon goes into you?

It’s addiction with flavour

Many vapes contain one of the most addictive substances known to humanity. Nicotine. Vape companies put unique and fruity flavours on their packages, but the ingredient they don’t always tell you about is nicotine. Yep, that’s right, a lot of the time they won’t even put it on the packet. This toxic chemical is the one that keeps you coming back, and it’s the same thing that keeps people smoking cigarettes.

Vape juice can be deadly

A significant number of accidental poisonings occur in children under the age of six.

Why? Because vape juice is poisonous when swallowed or absorbed through skin. Imagine that? Fairy floss flavoured poison.

Too toxic (even for landfill)

Vapes make the planet sick to its stomach too. The thing about vapes is you can’t just chuck them in the bin. If they’re put into landfill, the leftover chemicals and battery acid can seep into the earth. The ocean. Our rivers. The batteries can even explode and start fires.

So… let’s get this straight. They’re too toxic for landfill, but your mouth is fine, apparently?

You may breathe in what a vaper breathes out

Even if you’re not the one puffing that little wand, if you’re in a room, a car or any other confined space near someone vaping, you’re also breathing in the toxic chemicals that are in the vape cloud. It’s called ‘second-hand vaping’ and it can happen because the aerosols generated by vapes typically raise the concentration of particulate matter in indoor environments.

We don’t yet know the long-term effects of second-hand vaping, but if second-hand vape cloud contains toxic chemicals, it’s probably best to think carefully about vaping around family, friends or pets in closed spaces.

From vaping to smoking ciggies

The data says young vapers who’ve never smoked are three times as likely to take up smoking than non-vapers (check out this review). Another reason to never start vaping in the first place. Another reason to stop vaping before nicotine addiction gets worse.

Take a look through these: Get help or Give help info.

Anatomy
Of a Vape

How the hell do vapes work?

Their tiny battery powers a heating coil that heats up toxic chemicals that are turned into aerosols that you then breathe in.

All shapes and sizes

Vapes come in all shapes and sizes. Pods, tanks, reusable, disposable. They’re often small and brightly coloured. Like a highlighter straight out of hell.

A cocktail of chaotic chemicals

Vape juice is made out of all sorts of messed up stuff. Up to 243 different chemicals can be found in vapes, including formaldehyde. That’s the stuff used to preserve dead bodies and is classified as a known human carcinogen.

More Toxic Crap

Vapes can also contain acrolein, acetaldehyde and acetone. Yep, the stuff that takes your nail polish off. Yum.

Plus, there can be heavy metals like chromium, nickel and lead. Metals like these often come in containers with massive toxic skull and crossbones symbols. Meanwhile vapes are just “fruity and fun”. Weird. As if that’s not enough, vapes can also be packed full of nicotine, the original sinner in cigarettes.

Messed-up
Smoking Facts

Vaping can lead to smoking

Young vapers who’ve never smoked are three times as likely to take up smoking. Which is pretty cooked considering vapes were supposedly intended as a way to get people off cigarettes in the first place…

But hey, wanna recap on just how messed up smoking is? Tobacco kills more than 8 million people a year. About 7 million of these are from direct tobacco use. While 1.3 million deaths are just from being exposed to second-hand smoke.

If you’re lucky enough not to end up in the ground, smoking is still here to screw you over. Smokers are heaps more likely to get heart disease and lung cancer (plus other types of cancer too). Plus, they have an increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (which means you get ongoing respiratory symptoms), strokes, osteoporosis, peripheral artery disease (that’s when your blood struggles to travel through your body) and type 2 diabetes. Not great, if you like living.

Tobacco kills two in three long-term Aussie smokers

Smoking tobacco is deadly. So deadly it kills two in three long-term users in Australia, and is the largest cause of preventable death in Australia.

Why second-hand smoke is so serious

Even if you don’t smoke, tobacco is still dangerous as all hell. Second-hand smoke is what smokers exhale and it still contains some of the same toxic crap as the cigarettes themselves.

Babies who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems and more severe asthma. If you’re an adult, things aren’t much better. Second-hand smoke can impact the heart and cause coronary heart disease as well as lung cancer. Inhale a lot or a little, there’s no evidence of a safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke.

You can find out more here.

There's still hope

There’s enough info about smoking to make anyone mad. But it’s not all hopeless. The good news is that stopping smoking at any age is worth doing. It can increase your life expectancy, improve your quality of life, and the benefits start almost straight away.

You can get help to quit smoking here.