I have been doing a lot of research into electronic cigarettes since that is what my next book will be about. There have been many confusing headlines, some saying that they are just as harmful as tobacco cigarettes, while other headlines will tell you they will help you quit. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
The controversies that make headlines are often not the real issues,
such as-cig containing formaldehyde--that chemical was only created at very high temperatures--a temperature that no vape users would realistically use. While w-cigs do have some carcinogens, they are amounts that are 9 to 450 times less than traditional cigarettes.
1. The biggest problem is dual use long term, using electronic cigarettes while you are continue to smoke and continuing this practice long-term instead of quitting smoking. Using an e-cig for short term while trying to quit, probably isn't a problem, but with dual use, even reducing the number of cigarettes doesn't help with the damage smoking does to your cardiovascular system. Unlike cancer where exposure to a carcinogen is linear (the more exposure, the greater the risk of developing cancer), heart disease is not linear: 50 to 80% of the damage to the cardiovascular system from smoking occurs within the first 3 to 5 cigarettes. For those who do use e-cigs to quit smoking but continue to use them long term, there are no long term studies as to the health effects. Very likely it will not be the same as smoking but e-cigs will have their own unique disease profile and associated risk.
2. The cig-a-likes don't deliver enough nicotine to really help with cessation. The mods or tanks do a better job of that. A lot has to do with the particle size in the vapor. If the particle is either too small or too large, the vapor isn't absorbed. For example, the MarkTen offers some of the highest nicotine content (44mg) but very little of that is absorbed by the smoker, so you can't count on the nicotine content. It is not what is in the liquid but what is absorbed that is important. Almost all users start with a cig-a-like and either find them unsatisfying and go back to smoking, or they switch to a tank/mod which delivers enough nicotine to satisfy.
3. While there are some health risks with nicotine, the real problem is with the flavorings. Vapor shop owners will say that the flavorings are "FDA" approved--which most are--as a food, but not as an inhalant. (Actually flavorings are not FDA approved but approved by FEMA--Flavoring and Extract Manufacturing Assoc and given a "no objection" letter by the FDA). Digestion and inhalation are two very different delivery systems. When eaten, a flavor goes through the stomach and digestive tract where it is subject to gastric juices and then is filtered by the liver where toxins are removed. When inhaled, substances go straight to your blood system with no filtration. Some flavorings are toxic when inhaled--like cinnamon, buttery flavor and cherry. There are probably more but little or no testing has been done on the over 7000 e-cig flavors available.
4.Users like the hand to mouth use of e-cigs and when compared to the nicotine inhaler which also mimics this motion, users say that e-cigarettes give a better throat hit than the nicotine inhaler, (which is an FDA approved cessation device for cessation). A common issue with people using NRT is that they don't get enough nicotine from one delivery system, so we now suggest combination therapy, such as the patch or bupropion with either the inhaler, gum, lozenge, or nasal spray. This pairs one long acting agent with a short acting one. I have heard of many people using both chantix and bupropion together with great success but I haven't seen any research studies on it, only anecdotal.
5. Up to 90% of these devices are made in China (regardless of what the label says--no one is looking to see if the labels are true), where there are no manufacturing standards, the batteries can be defective and blow up, poorly made atomizers can leach metals into the vapor, contents of the e-liquid can be very different than the label--for example instead of using pharmaceutical grade nicotine, a less pure grade could be used or instead of propylene glycol, they could use diethylene glycol--which is cheaper but toxic. Plus there are many counterfeits on the market, so even if the manufacturer is one who is trying to create a good product, you may not know if the one you buy is real or counterfeit. This is a common problem with products made in China:
Lumber liquidators,
toothpaste,
dog and cat treats.
Having said all that, I do believe that once some of these issues are addressed through FDA regulation, there is a place for e-cigarettes as a harm reduction device which will help a smoker quit tobacco cigarettes and hopefully will only be used for a short time instead of continuing a nicotine addiction.
