According to a research released by the surgeon general’s office on Tuesday, LGBTQ Americans are among those contributing to the survival of smoke shops as vaping’s appeal continues.
In contrast to just 16.5% of their straight counterparts, 37.8% of American people who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual have tried electronic cigarettes, according to the surgeon general’s 837-page study on tobacco use. Electronic cigarettes, also referred to as e-cigarettes, comprise vaping pens, hookah pens, e-pipes, and e-cigars.
Further analysis of the data, which was gathered between 2019 and 2021, revealed that over half of bisexual persons had tried e-cigarettes, compared to 26.7% of lesbians and 31.8% of homosexual males.
The authors pointed out that data on tobacco use among transgender Americans were not generally accessible for examination in every section of the study.
Similar differences were discovered among the country’s teens and young adults, according to the report: Compared to 30.3% and 49.8% of their straight counterparts, more than 42% of young adults and 56% of high school students who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual reported using e-cigarettes.
Kristy Marynak, a senior science adviser at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a co-editor of the paper, stated that tobacco use poses a unique health risk to LGBTQAI+ groups. “This report highlights the disproportionate burden borne by certain communities, including LGBTQAI+ communities, and reveals that tobacco use is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States.”
According to Marynak, the study and the federal authorities in general see e-cigarettes and other goods containing nicotine as tobacco products. Therapeutic treatments, such as nicotine gum and patches, are the exceptions, she noted.
Since e-cigarettes are still relatively new, there is a lack of long-term studies on their effects on health. Regarding the negative consequences of certain of the chemicals frequently present in e-cigarettes, there is, nonetheless, broad scientific agreement.
According to the American Lung Association, e-cigarettes emit several harmful compounds, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein, which can lead to heart and lung problems.
E-cigarettes also frequently contain nicotine. According to the CDC, nicotine can damage brain development, which lasts until age 25, in addition to being addictive and likely to exacerbate anxiety or depression.
According to Dr. Scott Hadland, chief of adolescent and young adult medicine at Harvard Medical School and Mass General for Children, he has seen an increase in e-cigarette usage among young people who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. He said that “long-standing stigma” in healthcare settings is a major factor in the increased prevalence of tobacco use among LGBTQ individuals.
According to Hadland, “LGBTQ+ people may be reluctant to seek care to support their quit attempts.” “They may be scared to discuss it with their doctor because they are scared to visit the doctor in general.”
According to a survey released this year by KFF, a nonprofit organization that used to be the Kaiser Family Foundation and focuses on health care research, LGBTQ individuals are twice as likely as their non-LGBTQ counterparts to report having had a bad experience with health care in the previous three years.
According to the survey, Hadland also ascribed increased e-cigarette usage among LGBTQ Americans to marketing strategies.
The study found that in the mid-1990s, tobacco corporations targeted the LGBTQ community directly, especially through “Project Scum,” which promoted Camel and Red Kamel cigarettes to “consumer subcultures” in San Francisco.
According to the research, tobacco firms now place ads in gay periodicals and make donations to groups that support LGBTQ rights and Pride celebrations.
Since publishing its initial report on the dangers of smoking in 1964, the surgeon general’s office has committed significant resources to the fight against cigarette smoking. According to the current research, their efforts have mostly been effective, as in 2021, just 11.5% of American people reported smoking cigarettes, down from 42.4% in 1965.
According to the research, 760,000 middle and high school children and 36 million people in the United States still use tobacco products. E-cigarettes have become the most popular tobacco product among teens and young adults in the United States since 2014.
The authors said that these and other noncombustible tobacco products, such nicotine pouches, might jeopardize the overall gains made in preventing and lowering youth tobacco use.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Justice Department announced in June that they would form a federal multiagency task force to address the illicit sale and distribution of e-cigarettes.
