TECHNOLOGY FOR CHANGE

E-Cigarettes: A Healthy Alternative or Just the Stuff of Industry Puffery?

Dennis McCafferty | Date: 08-03-10 | Comments

Electronic cigarettes claim to be a much healthier alternative to traditional ones because they're supposed to contain fewer chemicals. But the jury is still out on how effective they are � and whether they're safe.

Business consultant Connie Palmer has smoked since she attended middle school, and tries to limit her habit to half a pack a day. She'd love to find a way to break the cycle. But a product commonly known as the "e-cigarette" simply won't do the trick, she says.

"I bought these and feel they are nothing more than a toy," says Palmer, of Corpus Christi, Texas. "I don't feel any satisfaction using them in place of smoking a real cigarette." For now, she'll keep on smoking "the real thing"�on a limited basis.

With a growing presence thanks to online marketing, debate lingers over the electronic cigarette: Is it a valid substitute for actual cigarettes? Is it healthy? Can it help smokers eventually kick the habit?

The Electronic Cigarette Association presents evidence to support a great deal of these contentions. There are more than 300,000 users of e-cigarettes now. They're getting their fix via a battery-powered device that allows for inhaled doses of nicotine via vaporization. The vast majority of harm caused by smoking comes from the method of nicotine delivery rather than the nicotine itself, the association claims.

Lending support to the premise that the e-cigarette is much safer, the association cites the following statement from Dr. Joel Niztkin, chair of the Tobacco Control Task Force of the American Association of Public Health Physicians: "We have every reason to believe the hazard posed by electronic cigarettes would be much lower than 1 percent of that posed by [tobacco] cigarettes. � If we get all tobacco smokers to switch from regular cigarettes [to electronic cigarettes], we would reduce the U.S. death toll from 400,000 a year to less than 4,000, maybe as low as 400."

The association indicates that electronic cigarettes use about 20 ingredients, including nicotine, and all of them are considered generally safe for human consumption when ingested prudently and in accordance with proper labeling. In contrast, tobacco smoke contains 4,000 ingredients, including arsenic, carbon monoxide and dozens of other potentially harmful ingredients, the association claims.

Other research and developments, however, are not so charitable toward the e-cigarette. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration once announced that lab analysis revealed that e-cigarette samples contained diethylene glycol, a chemical used in automotive antifreeze. It noted that the products contain no health warnings, are marketed and sold to young people, and that analysis has detected carcinogens within them, the reports stated. And a federal National Cancer Institute study conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond essentially agreed with smokers like Palmer: The darn things just don't provide the same "nic fit" relief that tobacco cigarettes do.

"They are as effective at nicotine delivery," Dr. Thomas Eissenberg, of the school's Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, told CNN "as puffing on an unlit cigarette."

Which hasn't kept the e-cigarette industry from coming up with continued tech innovations to keep the product in the spotlight: EcigarettesChoice.com is now marketing what it calls the No. 7 Square E Cigarette, which includes a metal carrying case that doubles as a charger, two rechargeable micro batteries, two micro atomizers, a USB cord for charging and 10 regular-strength tobacco-flavored refill cartridges. Its charging case includes a rectangular lithium-ion battery that is capable of charging your e-cigarette batteries up to eight times from within the carrying case.

And VaporCorp, which claims a 20 percent market share of the industry, is marketing the Smoke Fifty-One Electronic Cigar, which simulates the sensation of cigar smoking with no tar, carbon monoxide or toxins, and lasts up to 600 puffs.

(Source: Max Borges Agency)

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