Some people see them as a safer alternative to smoking.
Some people use them as an aid to quitting.
But the jury is still out on e-cigarettes, as far as the
Food and Drug Administration is concerned.
“Consumers of e-cigarette products currently have no way of
knowing whether e-cigarettes are safe … how much nicotine or other potentially
harmful chemicals are being inhaled during use, or if there are any benefits
associated with using these products,” according to the FDA’s website.
E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that work by
heating a liquid that contains nicotine. The nicotine is then inhaled in the
form of a vapor. So, rather than “smokers,” users of e-cigarettes often call
themselves “vapers.”
The FDA currently doesn’t regulate e-cigarettes, but the
agency is working to change that by creating rules that would classify the
devices as a tobacco product. While e-cigarettes don’t contain tobacco, their
key ingredient is nicotine, found in the tobacco plant.
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Janelle Marousek, a registered nurse and certified diabetes
educator for Desert Valley Senior Wellness Center in Apple Valley, is dubious
about e-cigarettes.
“Cigarettes, of course, are bad for you and have a ton of
harmful chemicals in them, but e-cigarettes are scary,” Marousek said. “There
may be some rules with the FDA, but these companies are not necessarily
following them.”
Marousek noted that in 2010, the Food and Drug
Administration issued warning letters to five electronic cigarette distributors
for unsubstantiated claims and poor manufacturing practices.
For smokers trying to quit, Marousek recommends the use of
other nicotine sources such as gum, lozenges or a nicotine patch.
However, Dr. Timothy Denton, a cardiologist at High Desert
Heart Institute in Victorville, said he feels that using e-cigarettes is the lesser
of the evils when compared to tobacco.
“We do not know the dosage of nicotine you get from an
e-cigarette, but you do not get the carcinogens,” he said. “Over the counter
you can buy nicotine gum, you can buy nicotine patches, you can buy
e-cigarettes. Of those three, which one is closest to the ritual you are used
to?”
And the ritual of smoking, Denton believes, is as addictive
as the nicotine itself. He notes that smokers crave cigarettes at certain times
of the day — for instance, right after a meal.
“They light that cigarette, they take a deep breath and
immediately they feel good,” Denton said. “But it takes longer than that for
the drug to get to the brain.”
Those who do quit smoking often need a new habit to replace
it. Too often, that habit turns out to be overeating, another serious health
risk. Better alternatives to smoking or eating would be a new hobby or a change
of scenery at a time when the cigarette craving is likely to strike — for
example, taking a walk after a meal.
But human nature being what it is, change doesn’t come
easily for most.
“In an e-cigarette, you get the feeling of a cigarette,”
Denton said. “It’s a little bit larger, it’s a lot heavier. When you puff on
it, you actually get some steam. It’s a micronized moisture that gives you a
little bit of nicotine.”
While manufacturers are not allowed to make claims about
e-cigarettes as quitsmoking aids, new evidence suggests they may be effective
for just that.
Last week, results were released from a study at the
University of Catania in Italy. In 2010, 300 smokers who expressed no desire to
quit smoking agreed to try e-cigarettes. Within 12 months, 8.7 percent of the
people in the study quit smoking, and 70 percent of those people went on to
give up e-cigarettes as well. Another 9 percent to 12 percent didn’t quit
smoking, but they reduced their habit by at least 50 percent.
“That’s the first good study that’s been done on electronic
cigarettes,” Denton said.
And while we may not know all the side effects of
e-cigarettes, the risks of traditional cigarettes are well- established: heart
disease, stroke, lung cancer and a variety of other cancers.
“For right now it’s not unreasonable to recommend
e-cigarettes for patients who want to stop smoking,” Denton said. “Anything we
can do to help get patients off regular tobacco.”
Article Credit: http://www.vvdailypress.com
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