For many people who smoke electronic cigarettes, the main purpose is to combat nicotine addiction – this way people are trying to quit smoking modern tobacco products. Exploring the topic how effective the electronic cigarette is in combat against tobacco smoking, I pursue the only goal to prove that today the electronic cigarette is the life-saving panacea, which does not require the rejection of the smoking ritual but at the same time it does not cause the dangerous harm to the body of a smoker.
Many people mistakenly believe that electronic cigarettes are dangerous to health – this statement is not true. Both doctors and smokers share the opinion that smoking electronic cigarettes is hundreds of times less harmful than conventional smoking and is a safe way to break the smoking habit.
This article provides readers with convincing arguments in favor of replacing the traditional cigarettes by e-cigs relying on the opinions of oncologists, cardiologists and medical specialists of the American Public Health Association. In defense of smoking electronic cigarettes they adduce two main arguments:
1. Electronic cigarette does not contain big amounts of poisonous substances in comparison with tobacco products which cause cancer in smokers.
2. After replacing traditional cigarettes for e-cigs the risk of heart attack and blood stroke in patients is significantly reduced.
The article also explores the issue on whether e-smoking is completely safe to smoker`s health, if it has a serious negative impact on bystanders and what`s caused the negative reviews and even a ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes.
Doctors Defend E-smoking
Doctors of all medical fields give the most flattering reviews about electronic smoking. And of course its main advantage is attributed to its relative safety. It's a kind of an inhaler, and a smoker inhales not smoke but vapor containing a certain dose of purified nicotine. Vapor of electronic cigarettes do not contain combustion products and poisons such as tar, carcinogens, carbon monoxide, polonium 210, hydrogen cyanide, acrolein, and others. That is why the doctors` reviews on smoking electronic cigarettes are predominantly positive.
Oncologists were first who left their positive review about e-cigs. Thanks to research carried out by independent experts, it became clear that there are no substances that cause cancer in the composition of dispersion liquid of e-cigs. So for health, e-smoking is much more beneficial than tobacco smoking. (Vranks)
Cardiologists also came down in favor of e-smoking as a healthier alternative to the conventional smoking. (Hafrey) Independent studies, carried out by cardiologists, show that smokers who have switched to smokeless tobacco products do not have excess risks for blood stroke and heart attack. (Rodu)
Doctors from the American Public Health Association also left their opinion in defense of electronic cigarettes sending a petition to the Food and Drug Administration of the USA. In the petition they asked to transfer electronic cigarettes from the category of “drug/medical device combination products” to the category of “tobacco products”. AAPHP doctors conducted their own independent examination and concluded that the decision of the FDA taken in 2009 on banning electronic cigarettes was not grounded. (electroniccigarettesandhealth.com)
Supporting Facts
The FDA's own analysis shows that e-cigarettes have the same concentration and the same level of pollution of the body as other pharmaceutical products, already approved by the FDA. Propylene glycol is one of the main components, generally recognized as safe. The risk of death related to the use of smokeless tobacco products is less than 5%, and for some products the risk of death is less than 0.1 % in comparison with conventional cigarettes. (Rodu)
According to the scientist Michael Siegel from Boston University, due to the fact that the electronic cigarettes contain nicotine without additional poisonous substances which tobacco products contain, they are safer than the conventional cigarettes. According to him, the tobacco contains 5,000 known chemicals and 100,000 unknown ones. Siegel claims that the level of harmful substances in the electronic cigarettes is comparable with their content in nicotine patches. And at the same time it is hundreds of times lower than in conventional cigarettes. (ecigsrule)
Another very significant advantage of electronic cigarettes is the taste and aftertaste. It is comparable to a smoking hookah and very different from the nasty taste that occurs after smoking conventional cigarettes. Even the brown paper which surrounds the filter, when burned, releases dozens of harmful substances. So the conclusion is that while smoking an electronic cigarette, smokers receive only pure nicotine.
According to recent researches, nicotine is not the cause of cancer in smokers, but tar and carcinogens, contained in tobacco smoke, trigger deadly diseases. (ecigseco.com)
Health Hazard for Bystanders
Smoking is a dangerous menace bringing not only a health hazard to a smoker but also to people surrounding him. Passive smokers are considered to be most affected – this axiom has long been proven. E-cigarettes contain a little amount of nicotine, propylene glycol, water and flavors. They do not emit the poisonous smoke. So the vapor that e-cigarettes produce poses no significant danger to surrounding people. (vapestick.co.uk)
Is E-cig a Completely Safe Alternative?
Anticipating the question about whether electronic cigarettes are a completely safe alternative to conventional cigarettes, it should still be noted that nicotine is present in both products. As is known, people get quickly addicted to this substance. But a smoker can significantly lower the hazard of electronic cigarettes controlling the concentration of nicotine by using cartridges with less content of nicotine.
Probably the only strong argument against the use of electronic cigarettes is the lack of time-proof clinical trials. This nicotine substitute has not been tested on prolonged exposure of the components of e-cigarettes to the human body.
However, there are the following proven facts:
1.E-cig almost does not contain harmful substances.
2.E-cig is a complete and optimal product for a nicotine replacement therapy.
3.E-cig allows giving up nicotine forever with a maximum psychophysiological comfort.
The Background of the Negative Reviews
Bureaucratic:
There is much noise not over the impact of cigarettes on the human body, but about the rules and laws of sales of the product. If governments were concerned about human health risks regarding tobacco, smoking would have been banned long ago. Governments of most of the states can't decide how to position the new product: as a drug of the nicotine replacement therapy, as cigarettes and tobacco products or as anything else. In this regard, there is no regulation on realization of e-cigarettes at time when there are sales around the world.
Financial:
Tobacco and pharmaceutical companies slowly begin to feel the growing popularity of electronic cigarettes in the form of reduced profits. Naturally, this situation has caused panic among the tobacco companies and serious concern among the pharmaceutical monsters. (Fox) If things go on like this, people will stop buying traditional cigarettes and pharmaceutical products of the nicotine replacement therapy. Probably in this regard, governments and WHO are pushed to ban sales of electronic cigarettes until the appearance of official results of clinical trials on a potential harm from nicotine particles and flavors. (WHO, 10)
Conclusion
Summing up the topic, it must be taken as proved that smoking is a problem of all mankind, similar to alcoholism, drug addiction, AIDS, and oncologic diseases, from which hundreds of thousands of people all over the world die every year. Although, in regard of a relative safety of switching to e-cigs, the WHO does not hurry to give its approval waiting for the conclusive clinical trial reports. However, it states that e-cigs contain less toxic substances than tobacco products. (5) Such uncertain position of the major opinion maker is beneficial to tobacco producers who are afraid of losing their marketing sphere of influence.
Nonetheless, having explored the reviews of oncologists and cardiovascular specialists, I have become convinced that the advantages of e-smoking over conventional smoking are apparent. Smoking e-cigs people do not expose themselves to the danger of getting deadly diseases. It either does not bring essential damage to health of the bystanders and the environment.
My research has shown that replacement of conventional cigarettes with electronic ones is by far the safest way for a smoker to quit smoking tobacco cigarettes and reduce harmful effects on health. However, the presence of nicotine does not make e-smoking completely safe to health because nicotine is very addictive and toxic. But still electronic cigarettes are a positive alternative to combusted ones. Guard your health!
Works Cited
Ecigseco. “What is More Harmful Tobacco Cigarette or E-Cigarette?” ecigseco.com. September, 2014. Web. Accessed on April 11, 2016 at <http://ecigseco.com/what-is-more-harmful-tobacco-cigarette-or-e-cigarette.html>
Ecigsrule. “Research On E Cigarettes”. ecigsrule.wordpress.com. (n.d.) Web. Accessed on April 10, 2016 at<https://ecigsrule.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/research-on-e-cigarettes/>
Electronic Cigarettes and Health. “Electronic Cigarettes – Health Risks of the Electric Vapor Cigarette”. electroniccigarettesandhealth.com. (n.d.) Web. Accessed on April 10, 2016 at <http://electroniccigarettesandhealth.com/>
Fox, Lindsay. “GlaxoSmithKline’s Patch and Gum Sales are Suffering Due to E-Cigs”. ecigarettereviewed.com. January, 2015. Web. Accessed on April 11, 2016 at <http://ecigarettereviewed.com/GSK-nrt-losing-sales-e-cigs>
Hafrey, Jimmy. “Cardiologists Lash Out At Misguided Information Condemning Ecigs”. churnmag.com. July, 2014. Web. Accessed on April 11, 2016 at <http://www.churnmag.com/news/cardiologists-lash-misguided-information-condemning-ecigs/>
Rodu, Brad. “Heart Attack and Stroke Risks from Smokeless Tobacco Use: Next to Nil”. rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com.by. August, 2009. Web. Accessed on April 11, 2016 at <http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com.by/2009/08/heart-attack-and-stroke-risks-from.html>
Rodu, Brad. “Physicians Who Genuinely Care About Public Health”. rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com.by. March, 2010. Web. Accessed on April 10, 2016 at<http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com.by/2010_03_01_archive.html>
Vapestick. “Are E Cigarettes Safe”. vapestick.co.uk. (n.d.) Web. Accessed on April 11, 2016 at <https://www.vapestick.co.uk/are-e-cigarettes-safe.html>
Vranks. “E-Cigarettes a Good “Antidote” to Smoking, Italian Oncologist Says”. vaperanks.com. March, 2016. Web. Accessed on April 11, 2016 at <http://vaperanks.com/e-cigarettes-a-good-antidote-to-smoking-italian-oncologist-says/>
WHO. “Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems”. Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Sixth session Moscow, Russian Federation. Provisional agenda item 4.4.2. July, 2014. Web. Accessed on April 11, 2016 at <http://apps.who.int/gb/fctc/PDF/cop6/FCTC_COP6_10-en.pdf>
