On one side is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fighting a legal battle to impose a ban on imports of these battery operated devices. It may be recalled that, last week, a federal judge has blocked FDA from stopping shipments of this new alternative to tobacco.
On the other hand are studies, funded primarily by the manufacturers of these electronic cigarettes, which term these inventions as safe.
Does not address problem of addiction
Needless to say anti-smoking groups are not praising these new devices and categorically state that these e-cigarettes in no way promote anti smoking behavior.
Anti-smoking group Quit avers, "Our concern is that, at face value, they appear to reinforce the behavior of having a cigarette. It's reinforcing the wrong habit and potentially without addressing the addiction.”
"We need to de-normalize smoking and e-cigarettes seem to role-model the wrong behavior," it added.
And somewhere in the middle are certain social groups who have called for more studies on the subject before declaring these e-cigarettes as safe or hazardous.
E-cigarettes find favor
In one of the latest studies conducted by New Zealand researcher Dr Murray Laugesen and his team, it was found that there is nothing in these e-cigarettes to be "immediately concerned about".
Laugesen’s team had conducted an in-depth research on one brand of e-cigarette, Ruyan. Laugesen study found that e-cigarettes that contained a small amount of nicotine were fairly safe, as there was about one-tenth as much nicotine per puff vis-a-vis a normal cigarette.
"Basically, in all the testing that we did we did not find anything that would make them unsafe relative to other tobacco products. Anybody can see they are much safer than tobacco and other regular cigarette products," said Laugesen.
About Electronic cigarettes
Electronic cigarettes are stainless-steel, battery-powered devices that provide vaporized nicotine without the carcinogenic chemicals usually found in cigarettes. E-cigarettes are big in America and are set to take the rest of the world by storm.
These devices are rechargeable, and come in different variants; either as nicotine-free or with nicotine. Furthermore a user can opt to buy an apple, chocolate, vanilla or coffee flavor of these cigarettes.
All said, experts opine that the present set of information and statistics available on the pros and cons of these e-cigarettes is "very limited".
Anti-smoking group Quit meanwhile remains hesitant to take a position on the safety of e-cigarettes but compliments one aspect, "The strength of e-cigarettes is that they provide nicotine without the thousands of damaging chemicals found in cigarettes and tobacco, which is certainly a good thing.”
About controlling behavior, not safety
I began vaping (short for using a personal vaporizer aka e-cigarette) around 3 weeks ago as an alternative to smoking cigarettes. In just 3 weeks I've gone from coughing a couple of times every ten minutes to just a few times a day, and I expect to continue improving. E-cigarettes satisfy the need for a smoker to smoke without harming himself or others with dangerous chemicals, carbon monoxide, and cancer-causing chemicals. All of the complaints against these devices seem to involve one group of people not approving of the behavior of another group, even though that behavior imparts neither harm or discomfort upon those complaining. "I don't like the idea of it so you should not be able to do it". Its nothing but "I know better than you" liberalism; its anti personal freedom and un-American (as the phrase was originally defined). Then again, liberals love to redefine words (and rewrite history).
Perhaps the governments interest in e-cigarettes is more than just behavioral. Cigarette taxes aren't being collect on e-cigarettes, and Tobacco companies stand to loose revenue if too many people shift away from traditional cigarettes.
While I would certainly ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors and would never advise a non-smoker to smoke e-cigarettes, for those who do smoke, it is a much safer alternative and a possible tool to quit smoking, as the nicotine levels in the vaporizing liquid can be gradually reduced to zero.
Same for me
I've pretty much quit smoking "by accident" thanks to e-cigs. I've smoked almost 40 years and was up to 2+ packs a day. I'd tried the ecigs hoping to just maybe cut my smoking in half. After a few days, I'd stopped smoking regular cigarettes. This has to be a good thing even if I never choose to completely quit using nicotine.
I'm not longer ingesting chemicals any more harmful than a cup of coffee. I'm not hurting anyone else by "vaping." Many years and thousands of dollars later, traditional methods of stopping smoking hadn't worked. Ecigs are working. If they're banned I and all my family and friends who are now using them will go back to smoking.
Ecigs are probably less harmful than any prescribed, FDA-approved prescription in my medicine cabinet. The UK is about to ban ecigs based on bogus, non-scientific FDA information. The FDA will be responsible for sentencing thousands to death by tobacco, or by turning those who have switched to ecigs and don't want to go back to to tobacco into criminals.
I therefore question the motives of ANY person, agency or government who wishes to ban ecigs or limit the use of ecigs.
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