06.11.2026 14:38
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pelin Duru Çetinkaya, a faculty member in the Department of Chest Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine of Çukurova University, said that jellybean, baby biscuit, and milkshake flavors are added to electronic cigarette liquids to attract children's attention, and that even middle school-age children aged 10-11 use these products. Çetinkaya emphasized that e-cigarettes bring many risks, from sudden lung injury to heart disease and cancer.
In Adana, Çukurova University (ÇU) Faculty of Medicine, Balcalı Hospital, Department of Chest Diseases faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pelin Duru Çetinkaya said that to attract children's attention, flavors such as jelly beans, baby biscuits and milkshake are added to e-cigarette liquids. Pointing out that even 10-11-year-old children use e-cigarettes, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çetinkaya said, 'Our lungs are not ready for flavors such as strawberry and pineapple. These products bring many risks, from heart disease to cancer, from sudden lung injury to death.'
After Cem Akaş, Editor-in-Chief of Can Publishing, lost his 19-year-old son to heart failure and then himself died of cancer nine days later, the harms of e-cigarettes came back onto the agenda. Drawing attention to Akaş's struggle, who called on families against the risks of e-cigarettes after his son's death, ÇU Faculty of Medicine, Balcalı Hospital, Department of Chest Diseases faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pelin Duru Çetinkaya said that e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and disposable devices are not innocent.
YOUNG PEOPLE QUIT CIGARETTES, STARTED E-CIGARETTES
Pointing out that e-cigarette use is spreading rapidly, especially among young people, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çetinkaya recalled that the World Health Organization (WHO) called for an urgent action plan on the issue in 2023. Noting that the tobacco industry targets young people with new products, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çetinkaya said, 'Worldwide, tobacco use among young people was at 15 percent in 2011 and fell to 5 percent in 2019. You are happy that young people are abandoning cigarettes. However, in the same period, e-cigarette use rose from around 3 percent to 20 percent. So what the industry wanted happened. While quitting cigarettes, young people turned to e-cigarettes.'
Emphasizing that promotions claiming these products are 'smoke-free' and can be used in indoor spaces do not reflect reality, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çetinkaya said, 'These products are new threats created by the tobacco industry as a result of its concern that sales would decrease after smoking in indoor spaces was banned in developed societies. The industry advertises as follows: You can smoke indoors too; these are smoke-free products, they only emit vapor. However, studies show that e-cigarettes also cause secondhand exposure. They contain heavy metals, glycerols, nitrosamines and many harmful chemicals. In a study in the US on devices used by high school students, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, was detected in one out of every three devices.'
16 THOUSAND FLAVORS WILL CONFRONT US WITH NEW DISEASES
Drawing attention to the fact that the contents and long-term effects of e-cigarettes are not fully known, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pelin Duru Çetinkaya mentioned the known disease risks and said, 'A host of diseases whose diagnosis we still cannot make related to e-cigarettes will confront us in the coming days. For example, when you look inside these products, there are more than 16 thousand flavors. It is not yet fully known which flavor leads to what. But what we know now from studies is this: heart diseases, carcinogenic effects, negative effects on brain development in children and adolescents, attention deficit, anxiety, and causing numerous harms in babies when pregnant women use them.'
Explaining that the WHO defined a disease associated with e-cigarette use in 2020, Çetinkaya said, 'The patient's lungs are damaged very quickly; young people come to emergency departments with sudden shortness of breath. It looks like viral pneumonia, and unfortunately they die. Often, if e-cigarette use was not questioned, it is mistaken for viral pneumonia. But the truth is acute lung injury due to e-cigarette use and the death that develops because of it. It can also cause tears in the pleura. Previously, the child of one of our artists was hospitalized with a pleural tear due to e-cigarette use.'
EVEN 10-11-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN USE THEM
Stating that food flavorings are added to e-cigarettes to attract children, Çetinkaya explained the dangers of presenting these products as an innocent consumption habit as follows:
'Our gastrointestinal system is ready for foods such as strawberry and pineapple, but our lungs are not. The arrival of foreign substances in our lungs can cause serious inflammatory reactions. To make children like them, they put baby biscuit, jelly bean and milkshake flavors into the devices. They make the products seem innocent. Because the industry's biggest target is young people.'
Pointing out that the age of use of this product is also gradually decreasing, Çetinkaya continued as follows:
'At middle school level, children aged 10-11 can buy and use these products. Sometimes families do not know that their children use them. I have even witnessed a father and son using e-cigarettes together as if it were not a harmful product. All these products we call tobacco products kill and leave people disabled. They cause acute lung injury, lead to lung collapse, and can cause diseases such as heart attack, heart failure and cancer. We need to stay away from all kinds of addiction.'