In recent years a new type of cigarette has begun to
repopulate our restaurants, our subway trains and our movie theaters. It
doesn't burn tobacco, it doesn't emit smoke and it lasts a lot longer than a
traditional cigarette. It's currently unregulated, but that may soon change,
and experts are already debating the best approach.
The Food and Drug Administration can't currently regulate
electronic cigarettes because they don't technically contain tobacco -- even
though the nicotine in them is derived from tobacco -- something that has
angered e-cigarette opponents.
"A lot of people feel like [the e-cigarette
manufacturers] are exploiting a loophole," said the director of Smoking
Cessation Services at Columbia University Medical Center, Daniel
Seidman.
Electronic cigarettes turn nicotine and other chemicals into
a vapor that's inhaled by the user. Just one of the battery-powered devices
provides as many as 300 puffs, roughly equivalent to the number of drags from
an entire pack of conventional cigarettes.
The smoker inhales a mix of water vapor and nicotine among
other chemicals including propylene glycol. For all of the differences between
e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes, e-cigarettes still contain nicotine, which
is addictive, and it is unclear exactly how much nicotine the e-cigarette
smoker inhales.
However, e-cigarettes are thought to be less carcinogenic
than regular cigarettes because they are non-combustible and do not contain
tar. A 2010 study in the British Medical Journal found that
"the scarce evidence indicates the existence of various toxic and
carcinogenic compounds, albeit in possibly much smaller concentrations than in
traditional cigarettes."
So it seems there are several unknowns about e-cigarettes,
notably the concentration of nicotine and whether they cause cancer – though we
do know they likely cause heart disease and strokes.
Despite this uncertainty, the FDA recently decided to tweak
their definition of a "tobacco product" to bring e-cigarettes under
their jurisdiction.
"The FDA intends to propose a regulation that would
extend the agency's 'tobacco product' authorities – which currently only apply
to cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless
tobacco," FDA spokesperson Jennifer Haliski wrote in an email.
Dr. Michael Siegel from Boston University's School of Public
Health is a firm believer in the power of e-cigarettes to help smokers quit –
or at the very least to provide a less harmful alternative to cigarettes for a
nicotine hit.
"They're safer because there's no tobacco in the
product, there's also no burning, it's just heated up. When you take away the
tobacco and combustion then you're taking away the bulk of the problem,"
said Siegel. But he added that "It's not a question of whether
e-cigarettes are going to be regulated, it's more about how they're going be
regulated."
Siegel remains worried that the wrong kind of regulation
from the FDA could end up harming the e-cigarette's potential to help
smokers.
Seidman suggested that there isn't any proof of e-cigarettes
successfully weaning smokers off tobacco. Of the few scientific studies
published on the matter, there's no real consensus.
Many of the smokers in survey-based studies continue to
smoke cigarettes even when they've tried to shift to e-cigarettes, said
Seidman. "There's a health concern if you end up maintaining your
addiction. You can't smoke [cigarettes] in a lot of public places. This is a
marketing strategy for the manufacturers. It keeps the addiction
alive."
The FDA declined to comment on the difficulties involved
with drafting rules for a product about which there has been so little
conclusive evidence. This has led to speculation about what form these new FDA
enforced regulations might take, a subject on which the FDA was also
predictably tightlipped. "FDA cannot comment on the contents of the proposed
rule," said Haliski.
"They could say let's apply everything we know about
cigarettes to electronic cigarettes," said Siegel.
Then again, they could come up with an alternative framework
specifically designed for e-cigarettes. Siegel said that the way FDA personnel
speak of a "risk continuum" of different tobacco products leads him
to be "cautiously optimistic that they won't lump the same regulations [on
e-cigarettes]. I think we'll see a different set of regulations," said
Siegel.
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| Electronic Cigarettes for Sale |
Both Siegel and Seidman agree that creating a uniform
quality standard is one of the most important needs from the FDA's impending
ruling, so that consumers know that the cartridges won't leak and that the
chemicals are of a pharmaceutical grade.
In the meantime, Seidman worries that e-cigarettes simply
assist smokers who wish to bring e-cigarettes into places such as airports,
where the smoker would otherwise be forced to forgo a smoke.
Tobacco industry giants are launching their own brands of
e-cigarettes.
"There are people who say anything the cigarette
companies do is evil," said Siegel. He suggested that "they've just
recognized a market and they want a piece of the pie."
But Seidman said the tobacco industry learned its lessons
from selling cigarettes and "their strategy is to add e-cigarettes to the
equation rather than subtract traditional tobacco."
Article Credit: http://www.insidescience.org
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