Thursday, October 21, 2010

FDA Warns that e-cigarettes pose "acute health risks"

I guess the old adage if it sounds too good to be true it probably is - is true again. E-cigs seemed to be a perfect answer for some smokers who like to smoke but don't like some of the health risks or the coughing that smoking causes, but unfortunately e-cigarette's also have health risks. Unfortunately we only know in a general way what these risks are because they haven't been studied in controlled situations. They haven't been studied in controlled situations because all kinds of people are making e-cigarettes and there are all kinds of uncontrolled ways that they are making them. Do they have the same amount of nicotine that most regular cigarettes do? Is each puff delivered have the same amount of nicotine in them. Remember that nicotine is toxic and if you don't know how much is in each e-cigarette then you are really playing with fire!
Well besides not know how much nicotine you are getting in each of those puffs, what else is in them. Again what little bit of information that has been gathered about the e-cigs is that there are alot of additives that are in the e-cigarettes than just the nicotine. Color, smell, flavor, what are all of those additives doing to you.

For years in the 50's and 60's people said that smoking was safe. There are even old advertisments that can be seen having Doctors suggesting that smoking a certain brand is the best. So what can we learn from this. Right now we don't know what is in e-cigarettes except that they have some amount of nicotine in them. We also don't know how much nicotine is in them, what the dose is for each puff and what the other additives are that are included in them. There have been no studies that look into the short and long term affects of these additives. My hope is that the FDA will require these products to undergo the same scruteny that is required on all drugs that are legally sold in the United States. I hope you will go to the Surgeon Generals new report on smoking. They have some information on the affects of nicotine that are alarming. Make sure you know what nicotine does before you continue to use tobacco products, or nicotine products.

Until e-cigarettes are studied, and you know what is in them, and what happens to the body when these substances are inhaled then please don't go from regular cigarettes to these products. Make informed decisions and until you can be informed don't buy and "smoke" e-cigarettes.