Debate on the safety of electronic cigarettes has been raging since the product’s introduction in 2003. Many of the arguments are incorrect information disseminated by the FDA with the help of big tobacco and big pharma.
In response to the heated debate, electronic cigarette suppliers recently formed a trade association to provide factual information about e-cigs to the buying public. Tobacco companies want to eliminate competition from electronic cigarettes and have followed an agenda of issuing warnings about e-cig dangers that have no basis in fact. The FDA conducted a very limited test of a few hand chosen e-cigarettes and then pronounced the products were not safe because trace amounts of a dangerous chemical were found in some of the products tested.
The FDA did not conduct followup testing or test to see if the same chemical was present in tobacco product. Although the statements made by the FDA were not factually incorrect they were also not scientifically proven but were conclusions based on a flawed example.
Consumers who wonder if electronic cigarettes are safe should consider that e-cigs contain 20 ingredients while tobacco cigarettes have 599 ingredients. When smoking tobacco you inhale more than 4000 chemical compounds. Claims are made that the additives in tobacco have been proven safe as food additives by the FDA. That is true as far as it goes. Those additives have not been tested for safety when burned and inhaled. Burning changes the chemical elements of some ingredients.
Association with smoking tobacco lays a mantle of guilt by association on nicotine. Studies over the years clearly show smoking tobacco can cause various types of cancer and increase the risk of heart disease. Tobacco smoke is also believed to decrease natural immunity in some users leaving them vulnerable to colds, bronchitis and pneumonia.
The properties of nicotine itself to not promote cancer in healthy tissue and nicotine has no mutagenic properties when separated from tobacco. There is no evidence that long term use of nicotine is detrimental to health. Nicotine is the reason we become addicted to tobacco. It is the fix we want when we light a cigarette yet it is not nicotine that damages our health.
Consumers have been using nicotine replacement gums, lozenges and patches for many year now with no apparent ill effects. Initially, nicotine patches were only available by prescription but as time passed it was clear the product posed no danger to the health of the public. Today you can buy all of those stop smoking aids freely at your local drug store.
The Royal College of Physicians states they do not suspect any adverse health effects to result from long term nicotine use. The best electronic cigarettes provide nicotine in a measured delivery that insures the safety of the e-smoker. Understanding that nicotine is the catalyst for smokers leads to understanding the need to provide nicotine in a way that avoids the risks taken when smoking tobacco.
Mary Kay Rivers is an expert in the field of electronic cigarettes. Her articles “How do E-Cigarettes Work?” or on choosing the best e-cigarette have become well-known.