Electronic
cigarettes are a booming business, with sales expected to be close to $2
billion by the end of the year in the United States.
As The Pilot's
Tim McGlone recently reported, they're widely available at local convenience
stores, drug stores and other retail outlets, as well as a couple of places
devoted to selling the devices. They're also easily obtained online.
And in a sure
sign of the e-cig's potential growth, the nation's three largest makers of
conventional tobacco cigarettes - Altria, Reynolds and Lorillard - are now
staking out territory in the relatively new industry.
But public health
officials are offering mixed -and mostly incomplete - reviews of e-cigs, which
emit a vapory cloud rather than smoke and contain far fewer chemicals than
traditional cigarettes.
Most e-cigarette
brands deliver nicotine, and many users view them as safer alternatives to
traditional tobacco cigarettes. Some see the e-cigs as a safe way to ease out
of their addiction to nicotine.
But, as the
Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa recently noted, "the quality and safety of
the devices are largely unknown." Last month, the center launched an
online survey of Floridians who use e-cigs, a precursor to a larger study on
the safety of the devices.
The nationally
known Mayo Clinic expresses similar uncertainty.
"At this
time, we simply don't know enough about them," Dr. Jon Ebbert at the
clinic's Nicotine Dependence Center recently wrote. "They have not been
proven safe, nor have they been shown to be effective in helping people stop
smoking."
What is known is
that e-cig use is rising rapidly among young people, raising concerns among
public health advocates about the safety of the products and their potential to
lead underage users to traditional smokes.
According to a
survey released recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
10 percent of U.S. middle and high school students said they'd used an
e-cigarette in 2012 - double the percentage from the year before.
Matthew Myers,
president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, said e-cigs are heavily
advertised and are being used to "re-glamorize smoking."
The Food and Drug
Administration has signaled its intention to regulate e-cigs, but so far it has
not done so.
Four years ago,
the agency ran preliminary tests on two brands and found diethylene glycol, an
ingredient also used in antifreeze. But without broader testing, that's too
vague to issue anything beyond "let the buyer beware."
The hazy nature
of the devices needs to be cleared up quickly. For the sake of consumers
spending billions on e-cigs, let's establish just how safe - or unsafe - they
are.
Buy Electronic Cigarettes
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