are e-cigarettes safe

Many Doctors Recommend E-Cigs as Anti-Smoking Aid

E-cigarettes seem to be everywhere these days, and a new study finds many U.S. doctors recommending them to smokers as a way to kick the tobacco habit.

“Even in the absence of evidence regarding the health impact of e-cigarettes and other vaping devices, a third of physicians we surveyed are recommending e-cigarettes to their patients to help quit smoking,” study co-author Leah Ranney, associate director of the Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program at the University of North Carolina, said in a university news release.

Many Doctors Recommend E-Cigs as Anti-Smoking Aid

The researchers cautioned, however, that more research is needed to determine if e-cigarettes are safe and if they actually help people to stop smoking.

E-cigarettes work by turning various concentrations of nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals into a vapor that can be inhaled — a process also known as “vaping.” Most of the nicotine in e-cigarettes enters the bloodstream through the soft tissue in users’ cheeks, not their lungs. The safety and effectiveness of e-cigarettes, however, remains unclear.

In conducting the study, published online July 29 in the journal PLOS ONE, Ranney and her colleagues randomly selected 128 doctors in North Carolina and asked them about their attitudes towards e-cigarettes.

The researchers found that two-thirds of the doctors believed the devices could be a useful tool to help people quit smoking. In fact, 35 percent said they had recommended e-cigarettes to their patients.

However, “e-cigarettes are not approved by the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] for smoking cessation,” Ranney said. She suggested that “physicians should refrain from recommending e-cigarettes until more is known about their safety.”

Doctors were more likely to recommend e-cigarettes if their patients asked about them or if they believed these products were safer than smoking regular cigarettes.

The study authors cautioned that some doctors may have conflicting information about the safety of e-cigarettes. Among those polled, 13 percent were unaware that e-cigarettes are not FDA-approved.

Study co-author Dr. Adam Goldstein, a University of North Carolina family medicine physician, noted in the news release that “physicians may choose to use FDA-approved medications rather than devices and products not approved by FDA.”

The study was funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Source: webmd

WHO urged to stop controlling and suppressing use of e-cigarettes

ecigarette

A letter signed by more than 50 researchers and public health specialists has urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to “resist the urge to control and suppress e-cigarettes”.

The letter says that the devices – which deliver nicotine in a vapour – could be a “significant health innovation”. But the UK’s Faculty of Public Health says it is too early to know whether benefits outweigh potential risks. The WHO said it was still deciding what recommendations to make to governments.

The open letter has been organised in the run-up to significant international negotiations on tobacco policy this year. Supporters of e-cigarettes, who argue the products are a low-risk substitute for smoking, fear they might become subject to reduction targets and advertising bans.

There has been a big growth in the market for e-cigarettes, but the Department of Health says they are not risk-free. Critics said that not enough is known about their long-term health effects. A recent report commissioned by Public Health England said e-cigarettes required “appropriate regulation, careful monitoring and risk management” if their benefits were to be maximised.

The letter has been signed by 53 researchers – including specialists in public health policy and experts such as Prof Robert West, who published research last week suggesting that e-cigarettes are more likely to help people give up smoking than some conventional methods.

Source: business standard

E-cigarettes: a burning question for U.S. regulators

At the Henley Vaporium, one of a growing number of e-cigarette lounges sprouting up in New York and other United States cities, patrons can indulge in their choice of more than 90 flavours of nicotine-infused vapour, ranging from bacon to bubble gum.

The lounge, located in Manhattan’s trendy Lower East Side, features plush seating, blaring rock music, and fresh juice and coffee. A sprawling sign on one wall lists all the carcinogens that e-cigarette users avoid by kicking their smoking habits and using the devices instead.

But the growing popularity of e-cigarettes has not escaped the notice of the industry’s critics, who have stepped up calls for new regulations, including bans on their use in public places, even though the scientific evidence about exposure to their vapours remains inconclusive.

Selling for about US$30 to US$50 (S$37.60 to S$62.66) each, e-cigarettes are slim, reusable, metal tubes containing nicotine-laced liquids that come in exotic flavours. When users puff on the device, the nicotine is heated and releases a vapour that, unlike cigarette smoke, contains no tar, which causes cancer and other diseases.

The product, introduced in China in 2006, has become a worldwide trend at least in part because it may help smokers of regular cigarettes break the habit.

“It’s an addiction — not everyone can quit cold turkey,” Mr Nick Edwards, 34, a Henley employee who says he kicked a 15-year cigarette habit the day he tried his first e-cigarette, said yesterday (Nov 11). “E-cigarettes give you a harm-reduction option.”

That’s one reason why the market for e-cigarettes is expected to surge, reaching US$2 billion by the end of this year and US$10 billion by 2017, according to Ms Bonnie Herzog, an analyst at Wells Fargo Bank in New York.

Ms Herzog said the US market alone could top US$1 billion this year. She predicts that by 2017 e-cigarettes sales will overtake sales of regular cigarettes. That estimate does not take into account the impact of potential government regulations on sales.

E-cigarettes may help smokers save money too. Mr Edwards, for one, says he cut his US$60 monthly cigarette bill in half when he switched. On top of the cost of the device, the smoking liquids cost around US$10 per refill.

Despite the perceived benefits, critics worry that the addictive nicotine found in e-cigarettes could lure more people into smoking and discourage others from quitting all together.

SOurce: today online

US teen use of e-cigarettes doubled, CDC reports

Twice as many U.S. middle and high school students used electronic cigarettes, which mimic traditional cigarettes and deliver nicotine as a vapor, in 2012 than a year earlier, and these teens could be on the way to a lifelong addiction, according to a government report released on Thursday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 10 percent of high school students surveyed reported using e-cigarettes in 2012, up from 4.7 percent in 2011.

Some 2.7 percent of middle school students surveyed had used e-cigarettes in 2012, up from 1.4 percent in 2011.

Last year, nearly 1.8 million middle and high school students nationwide tried e-cigarettes, the report said.

“The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden. “Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes.”

E-cigarettes are battery operated, reusable devices, designed to mimic the size and appearance of traditional cigarettes but deliver nicotine in vapor form instead of tobacco or other carcinogens.

Twelve states have laws preventing e-cigarette sales to minors – California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. New York banned e-cigarette smoking within 100 feet of an entrance to a public or private school.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans two years ago to regulate e-cigarettes but has not yet done so.

Lorillard Tobacco Company, which makes e-cigarettes, last year said on its website that it does not market the product specifically for teens. Its nicotine cartridges come in flavors such as cherry crush and vivid vanilla, which is promoted as tasting like ice cream.

A spokesperson for Lorillard did not respond to requests for comment.

The survey also found that 76.3 percent of students who used e-cigarettes in a 30-day period also smoked conventional cigarettes at the same time.

E-cigarettes have been promoted as an aid to stop smoking but both the CDC and FDA warn that there is no conclusive evidence the product aids in quitting smoking.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/