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.
A trade associate was recently formed to represent the interests of electronic cigarette suppliers and to refute the misinformation about the safety of e-cigarettes. Tobacco companies have issued warnings about e-cigs with a clear intention of eliminating the competition. High dollar lobbyists pushed the tobacco and pharma agenda with pressure on the FDA until that government agency conducted a limited test that was scientifically invalid. Using the unproven conclusions of the testing, the FDA issued several statements about potential health problems that might be associated with e-cigs. The handpicked small sample of e-cigs tested by the FDA had shown trace amounts of a harmful chemical 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.
E-cigarettes contain only twenty ingredients. When the buying public asks “are electronic cigarettes safe” it seems best to point out that tobacco cigarettes contain 599 ingredients that produce over 4000 chemical compounds and additives when burned. Although claims are made by tobacco companies that cigarette additives have been approved by the FDA that is not quite the true picture. Those food additives were tested for ingestion as a food product. They have not been tests for chemical compounds that are created when the additives are burned. The high heat of burning can change the chemical elements of some products.
Poor nicotine is guilty by association with tobacco. Tobacco smoke is thought to lower the immune system in some smokers leaving them open to more colds and infections. We know for a fact that smoking tobacco causes cancers of the mouth, throat and lungs and increases risk of heart disease in smokers. These health problems are directly attributed to the tars and noxious gases of burning cigarettes inhaled by the smoker.
When separated from tobacco, nicotine does not promote cancer in healthy tissues and shows no mutagenic properties. Nicotine is the reason we become addicted to tobacco and is the fix we crave when we want a cigarette.
Gums, patches and lozenges designated as nicotine replacement products have been freely available in stores for years. Originally, the nicotine patch was only available by prescription but was later approved as an over the counter product. The stop smoking products have not revealed any significant health risks in the years since they were first released.
The best e-cigs deliver a measured dose of nicotine to the e-smoker. Nicotine is provided in a safe form that soothes the smoker’s craving without the risks of smoking tobacco. The Royal College of Physicians stated they do not suspect adverse health effects will result from the long term use of nicotine.
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