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Today's Poll!Anti-Smoking Group Targets E-Cigarettes
Claims products contain unknown ingredients and make unsubstantiated claims
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Ever since e-cigarettes came on the scene, offering smokers a tobacco-free alternative to smoking, health advocates have raised questions.
Earlier this month Greek researchers suggested using the device, which delivers nicotine in water vapor, could still be harming the lungs. Now, an anti-smoking group says e-cigarettes are just as obnoxious to non-smokers as real cigarettes.
Criticizes marketing
Americans for Non-Smokers Rights is slamming the marketers of e-cigarettes, claiming they are using press releases and social media to tout the benefits of their product, despite a lack of independent peer-reviewed scientific evidence demonstrating the safety or effectiveness.
E-cigarettes don't just produce harmless water vapor, the group claims. Instead, they say they pollute indoor air with detectable levels of carcinogens and other toxic chemicals.
"What I find most egregious are the direct advertisements with false and misleading claims, including that e-cigarettes are effective smoking cessation devices, that e-cigarette use is permissible in all indoor environments, including venues that are smoke-free, and targeting pregnant women claiming that e-cigarettes are safer and healthier than other tobacco products," said Cynthia Hallett, executive director of Americans for Non-Smokers Rights.
Disputes claims
In a press release of its own, the group disputes e-cigarette manufacturers' claims that e-cigarettes are "safer than commercial tobacco products." It says the contents of the e-cigarette liquid and the "vapor mist" that is exhaled by the user remain undisclosed. E-cigarettes are currently an unregulated product, which leaves a great deal of unknowns not only about the health risks, but also about product manufacturing quality and safety.
The group points to a study recently published in Indoor Air, which measured the contents of exhaled e-cigarette vapor and found that exhaling the vapor releases measurable amounts of carcinogens and toxins into the air, including nicotine, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde.
New source of chemical exposure
The authors concluded that e-cigarettes are a new source of chemical and aerosol exposure and their potential health impact is a concern that should be investigated further. Other researchers have found inconsistent labeling of nicotine content on e-cigarette cartridges -- that cartridges labeled as not having nicotine did in fact contain nicotine, and vice versa -- as well as other signs of poor quality control, including leaky cartridges and defective parts.
A number of states, including California, have sued the marketers of some brands of e-cigarettes for making what officials described as "misleading and irresponsible" claims that electronic cigarettes are a safe alternative to smoking.
E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices with nicotine cartridges designed to look and feel like conventional cigarettes. Instead of actual smoke, e-cigarettes produce a vapor from the nicotine cartridge that is inhaled by the user. Smoking Everywhere, one of the largest e-cigarette retailers in the United States, claims in its ads that the e-cigarettes have no carcinogens, no tar, no second-hand smoke, and are therefore safe and healthy.
Marry Me
Comments
jbring 7 months, 2 weeks ago
I think you should offer information from both sides of the story rather than just posting a vague press release from ANR. There is a lot of bias in this article.
There has been plenty of research on the few ingredients that are in the liquid in e-cigs and have proven to be much much safer than traditional cigarettes. Air pollution in our cities is far more dangerous than vapor.
If e-cigs get people to stop smoking and are relatively harmless than we should be supporting them.
Brewlady 7 months, 2 weeks ago
What I find most egregious is the fact that despite repeated efforts to get anti-tobacco groups to realize the potential health benefits of Tobacco Harm Reduction, they continue to repeat the same old lines. "It says the contents of the e-cigarette liquid and the "vapor mist" that is exhaled by the user remain undisclosed." E-cigarette liquid contains propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavorings, and varying levels of nicotine, if the user desires. The vapor has been tested and found to be harmless. They insist on mentioning that chemicals have been found in exhaled vapor, yet they are just as insistent about not mentioning that the levels detected are well below harmful levels. The FDA's own tests, done years ago, found that the level of tobacco-specific nitrosamines in an electronic cigarette (8.183 parts per TRILLION) were comparable to a nicotine patch (8.0 parts per TRILLION). One tobacco cigarette can contain upwards of 10,000 parts per trillion.
FDA-approved cessation methods have a dismal success rate at 6 months. Studies have shown that long-term smokers are having measurable success, entirely replacing their tobacco use with electronic cigarettes. More studies are being done, with positive results continuing to be ignored. I smoked for 36 years, and have been smoke-free for over two years. People like me have taken to social media to communicate our success to others, because vendors are prohibited from saying that this device can help you to quit. It's well established that Chantix is responsible for hundreds of completed suicides, but because it's FDA-approved, it continues to be sold. Nicotine use does not equate to tobacco use. If ANR really wanted adults to stop smoking tobacco cigarettes, they would endorse tobacco harm reduction. Instead, their message is one of fear and falsehoods. It's really a shame that groups like The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association aren't able to get the type of funding that is poured into many anti-tobacco groups by Big Pharma. ANR is not concerned about smokers, and their continued lying is causing harm.
I find their actions despicable.
tonto_goldberg 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Despicable? Maybe, but let's be a little more honest, stop point fingers, and stop calling names. We don't need an ad from the electronic cigarette industry here.
It's not the liquid content of an electronic cigarette that matters, it's what happens when that liquid content is vaporized. That's the whole point of an electronic cigarette, to get that precious nicotine into your lungs, right? Otherwise, why bother? It doesn't look that cool.
One of the things you get when you use an electronic cigarette is lung irritation, and another is formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a carcinogen. You get a lot less than with a tobacco cigarette, but you can't say that vapor is harmless.
jbring 7 months, 2 weeks ago
You do not get formaldehyde from e-cigs! That is a flat out lie!
Also, some people enjoy zero nicotine vapor because they enjoy taste and the act of exhaling vapor.
tonto_goldberg 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Speaking of lies - that is not an opinion. What I found with a quick search was lab results from two different countries so I did not look further. The theory is that it comes from heating the ingredients in the electronic cigarette. You may not like reality but you don't get to make up one of your own.
Also, some people enjoy spray paint propellant but that does not make it a good idea.
Treece 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Actually, formaldehyde was detected in one study of e-cigs that I know of ... at 1% of what is considered hazardous.
Formaldehyde is also in baby shampoo and exhaled human breath. It's a great word to use if you want to scare people.
A similar tactic is used with the word "safe." Opponents of e-cigarettes go on about how e-cigarettes have not been proven to be "safe." Is riding a bicycle safe? Is inhaling the fumes from cooking safe? Is drinking water safe? No, no, and no...
Groups like the ANR make it exceedingly difficult to have a meaningful discussion, because they start off from a place of dishonesty.
mntvernon 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Treece, the ANR and their sock puppets will never submit to an honest discussion because it might lead to a threat to their pharmaceutical company funding sources: tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/
Vocalek 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Mr. Goldberg:
1) Brewlady does not work for the electronic cigarette industry. She's a former smoker who was only able to stop smoking by switching to an e-cigarette.
2) Actually, there are people who use e-cigarettes with no nicotine. The point is to substitute something for smoking that is less hazardous than smoking. 3) The researchers expected to find nicotine in their first experiment and could not find any. They then captured vapor directly and were able to find a miniscule quantity of 1.04 parts per billion. A bystander would need to lock lips with an exhaling e-cigarette user to get any nicotine exposure whatsoever. 4) As someone who has been using an electronic cigarette instead of smoking for more than 3-1/2 years I can testify to the fact that it's less hazardous. I'm not kept awake at night by wheezing any more, and I don't cough up yukky junk in the morning any more. My lipids and BP are lower, too. This gives me strong reason to believe that my smoking-related health risks have been greatly reduced. 5) According to asthma specialists, the reaction reported by Greek researchers is not uncommon. Even saline solution will elicit the same response. Lung irritation is not lung damage, and it was misleading for researchers to suggest that it is. Furthermore, a) not all users experience lung irritation, b) if so, it passes in time, and c) more importantly, bystanders do not experience lung irritation from exhaled vapor. 6) The EPA states, "Formaldehyde is an important chemical used widely by industry to manufacture building materials and numerous household products. It is also a by-product of combustion and certain other natural processes. Thus, it may be present in substantial concentrations both indoors and outdoors." Formaldehyde is also produced by your own body each and every day. In fact, this very minute, you might be exhaling more formaldehyde than the researchers in the Indoor Air study found in exhaled vapor (less than 13 parts per billion.)
7) There is no reason to believe that the health of bystanders is is in any greater danger from being around exhaled vapor than they would be from being around a backyard cook-out or in a restaurant that cooks on a griddle or open fire. In fact, exposure to chemicals would be less. A lot less.
Evan 7 months, 2 weeks ago
This article does seem a bit one-sided. What about all the positive, peer-reviewed health reports in favor of E cigs that have come out in the past few months?
tonto_goldberg 7 months, 2 weeks ago
I'd settle for one. Do you have, or know of a published and peer-reviewed report on the chemicals generated in electronic cigarettes and inhaled by their users? We expect they will be a lot safer than tobacco cigarettes, but information reported by independent scientists would be much more impressive.
Treece 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Journal of Public Health Policy (2011) 32, 16–31. Published online 9 December 2010:
"Electronic cigarettes as a harm reduction strategy for tobacco control: A step forward or a repeat of past mistakes?"
"Abstract:
The issue of harm reduction has long been controversial in the public health practice of tobacco control. Health advocates have been reluctant to endorse a harm reduction approach out of fear that tobacco companies cannot be trusted to produce and market products that will reduce the risks associated with tobacco use. Recently, companies independent of the tobacco industry introduced electronic cigarettes, devices that deliver vaporized nicotine without combusting tobacco. We review the existing evidence on the safety and efficacy of electronic cigarettes. We then revisit the tobacco harm reduction debate, with a focus on these novel products. We conclude that electronic cigarettes show tremendous promise in the fight against tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. By dramatically expanding the potential for harm reduction strategies to achieve substantial health gains, they may fundamentally alter the tobacco harm reduction debate."
The comment system won't allow me to post a direct link, but it's easy to look up.
spelchek 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Anti-Smoking Group Targets Liberty, Freedom
Claims nanny state not big enough.
eileen10 6 months, 1 week ago
I read reports from different countries. Some say the reports are inconclusive, others say their safe and others say their not as safe. So who to believe? I don't know but in the long run their safer than regular cigarettes. I for one wouldn't use the ecig anywhere but my home, car or where I'm around people that smoke due to the fact that I don't know who to believe as far as safety to others. I wish other smokers were like me but there are far to many smokers who are inconsiderate of the nonsmoker and it pizzes me off. My mother was one of the inconsiderate smokers and we had quite a few go arounds with me on the losing end. She died two years ago of COPD. Her death was horrible and it should have been enough for me to stop smoking but it wasn't. Dumb? Oh ya. Cigarettes are evil. I'm an ignoramus but I'm trying to quit and it's the hardest thing I've ever tried to do.
arling5924 7 months, 2 weeks ago
I am so sick and tired of hearing about non smokers rights, what about the rights of those who do smoke? You pushed the smokers outside then complain because you cannot go outside when the weather is nice then laugh when you see the smokers out in the rain and snow. I have a muscle disease and I am in pain 24 hours a day 7 days a week, leave me alone. Can't I have some kind of enjoyment in life without you constantly complaining about it. Let me come to where you work or live and complain what ever bad habits you have as being unhealthy. If electronic cigarettes do not harm you then leave us alone!!!!
newone 7 months, 2 weeks ago
well if smokers had a little respect for the non smokers than we would care more about the rights of smokers but they don't give a crud about lighting up a cig in a large group of people so why should we give a crud about your "rights" and one other thing, why are the rights of smokers more important than non-smokers?
JCLifer 6 months ago
Excellent points. If smokers had a little common courtesy to take their stink outside away from others, and to stop throwing their lit butts out the car window all the time, there might not be so much work to ban smoking. However, since smokers cannot be considerate of others, the bans and restrictions of this very nasty and unhealthy addiction are going to continue.
earlsmusic 3 months, 3 weeks ago
So smoking is the only thing you enjoy? It can't be something that doesn't make you and everyone else sick or sicker? Keep your smoke at home and you won't be hearing from anyone about it.
eileen10 7 months, 2 weeks ago
My previous post got lost somewhere. I don't think it's so much the rights of either side. I feel it's more about commom sense. I'm a smoker and I don't smoke around a nonsmoker because of the health risk. It's a nasty habit and try as I might I haven't been able to shake it.I don't mind at all that I can't smoke in a restaurant etc. in fact I prefer it . Clean air is better than cigarette filled air and as far as the Ecigarette or what ever it's called, I tried it once and chucked it. Didn't like it. One article I read said it's safe another said it's not . My feeling is that a smoker needs to be respectful of those who aren't but I realize not all smokers agree with that . None of us has the right to endanger another person and that's the gospel of Eileen.
gailmc 6 months, 1 week ago
I am an oxygen nurse. I have never smoked a cigarette in my life. I bought some of these for patients because my father has lung cancer and I didn't want to be exposed to this in peoples' homes. Just since March I have had a patient get off of oxygen and others the doctors are telling them their lungs have shown improvement with their COPD.
As a nurse I am ashamed to see that the Pharmaceuticals are pressuring the FDA into trying to stop the sale of ecigs. We all know why...the billions of dollars they are making in smoking cessation products, which by the way fail 95% of the time, are losing money.
45 people die per hour from tobacco cigarettes. How many have died from Electronic Vapor?
It's just like the vapor from a nebulizer which patients inhale all of the time.
This just makes me sick. As a nurse, seeing all of the failed attempts to help my patients, there is finally something that is helping them and we have to walk on egg shells?
9 out of the 10 patients I know whom have tried Chantix told me that it made them go insane. Ask an E-cigger if they have gone nuts from an ecig and I'll bet they say NO!
So, if their doctors are telling me their lungs are improving and they are not offending me while I am in their home, and they are saving money...not to mention saving billions in litter and air pollution...WHY AGAIN IS THIS NOT BETTER?
This article should be taken down immediately, in my opinion so that it does not discourage these poor people who have no hope!
We would never just tap a heroin addict on the back and say "you just need to quit" and yet we expect cigarette smokers, who used to be told by their doctors (by the way) that it was healthy to smoke, just quit LIKE THAT!
I am sick to my stomach after reading this!
When my patients ask their doctors if it's okay, MOST ARE THRILLED! The ones who aren't are uninformed!
I have them bring in a pamphlet from online resources with the facts about ecigs.
Next time you think the FDA is on your side, just take a look at shelves and all of the poor people standing in line to get their 4,000 chemicals found in each cig that is literally killing this country!
eileen10 6 months, 1 week ago
There is chantix in my cupboard that's been sitting there for two months because I don't dare use it. One of these days I'll throw it out. I checked online re: the ecig and different countries have different views. As for me, thanks to gailmc and the reports I read I'll be buying the ecig.Thank you gailmc.
eileen10 6 months, 1 week ago
P.S. I did try the ecig one time and didn't care for it but there are different kinds so I'll just find one I like. My lungs will be jumping for joy.
gailmc 6 months ago
Eileen. I did alot of testing of ecigs to see which ones people prefer over others. None of them wanted the candy looking ones that you get from the store because they said that those didn't satisfy. The ones with the bigger batteries and the tanks are the ones that have satisfied the most. You can try them for $5.95 if you just pay shipping and then send it back if you don't like it. Let me know if you're interested. I will try to help you.
eileen10 6 months ago
I will go with the ones with the bigger batteries and tanks. The one I'd tried belonged to a friend . Don't the stores sell just one? Or do I need to buy the whole thing and where dd I buy it? I have seen them at breaktime and I assume the smoke shops have them?
gailmc 6 months ago
After reading this article and seeing that we have a huge fight ahead of us to save ecigs, I just became a member of CASAA.
Here is some of the info from their printable material: • Cessation Products fail 95% of the time • Ecigs first introduced 2005 in china. Took US by storm in 2007. This year, the industry forecasts $100 million in sales, with more than half a million consumers in the U.S. alone • In the five years that ecigs have been on the market, there have been no known adverse health reactions or complaints. On the other hand, approximately 440,000 people die every year from traditional tobacco smoking. • There are 45.3 million (20.8 percent) tobacco smokers in the US and 1.1 billion smokers worldwide and expected to be 1.6 billion by 2025. • The US ranks 5th among countries with highest rate of tobacco smokers.
• Approximately 10 million cigarettes are purchased per minute worldwide. 15 billion cigarettes are sold each day, and 5 trillion cigarettes are produced and used annually • More than 360 billion Cigarettes were smoked in the US in 2007, creating 135,000,000 pounds of discarded butts. Cigarette butts make up 38% of litter worldwide and are considered the leading litter problem in the US • Approx. 1,095 people die daily from tobacco cigarettes and about 45 deaths per hour • Cigarettes have around 4,000 chemical compounds, 60 of which are known or suspected to cause cancer. • Tobacco kills more Americans than AIDS, drugs, homicides, fires, and auto accidents combined • Every year it costs the US more than 6 Billion from cigarette fire damages, about 2,500 injuries and over 1000 deaths. One in four fires is caused by tobacco cigarettes. • It takes a person an average of six to eight attempts to successfully quit smoking. Each year 45 percent of smokers will quit for one day, however, the average success rate is less than 3 percent. • Tobacco smoking costs the US more than $97 billion annually in lost productivity “smoking breaks” and more than $96 Billion in health care expenses. • Consumers spent $3 billion worldwide in 2008 on smoking cessation products, an increase from 1.4 billion in 2002, still smoking cessation products are known to be about 5% ffective, and 80 percent of smoking cessation products are sold to habitual nicotine users.
gailmc 6 months ago
Here is the rest of it: • The average cost of a pack of cigarettes is $6 in US, a 200 percent increase over the last decade. Since 1998, 44 states have increased cigarette taxes 90 times, and the federal government has increased cigarette taxes multiple times. • If a person smokes one pack of tobacco cigarettes per day for 50 years (average age 13) they will spend $109,500 on cigarettes compared with $122,220 on groceries during the same period. • The consumption of a tobacco cigarette delivers about 1-1.5mg of nicotine. With the average US smoker consuming 13.9 cigarettes per day, they consume 14-21mg of nicotine daily. Depending on the smoking cessation product, labeling suggests consumption of six to 48mg of nicotine per day. • By comparison, and ecig produces 0 to 16mg of nicotine when fully consumed after approx 300 puffs. The average ecig user takes 62.8 puffs per day. This suggests that the average ecig smoker is consuming 3.36 mg of nicotine per day- far less than the amounts for cigarette or smoking cessation products. • Nicotine properties in stand- alone form, separated from tobacco, does not promote the development of cancer in healthy tissue and has no mutagenic properties. The Royal College of Physicians, as well as a study by the National Institutes of Health, indicates that there are no grounds to suspect appreciable long-term adverse effects on health from the long term use of nicotine. • If smokers switched to ecigs, the US death toll from 400,000 a year could decrease to 4,000 or maybe as low as 400. • Nicotine is probably the second most used drug after caffeine. Amazingly, no one thinks of caffeine as a harmful drug. Nor should they. The possible dangers of nicotine are dwarfed by the dangers associated with tobacco. Pure nicotine has not been associated with the risk of cancer.
• Telling smokers they may not use an Ecig until it’s FDA approved is like telling a floundering swimmer not to climb aboard a raft because it might have a leak! • Combustible tobacco products are the least regulated and nicotine products are the most highly regulated??? • Royal college of Physicians “ There are no grounds to suspect appreciable long –term adverse effects on health from the long term use of nicotine replacement therapy. • Ecigs are not harmful to bystanders because it does not have a lit flame or produce combustion of tobacco smoke. • There are campaigns by pharmaceuticals who are asking the FDA to ban electronic cigarettes (Big pharmaceuticals generate more than $3 billion in smoking cessation product sales)
JCLifer 6 months ago
Do they have E-cigs that puff out THC vapor yet? Those will be very popular.
TickledPink 6 months ago
LIfer, yes they do. They're called vaporizers. (I have a friend who is a cannibas activist.)
Eileen, I use the Tornado e-cig and I like it. It's a little more expensive to get started with that one but I've had it for almost 2 years and it still works great when others I've tried wore out pretty quickly. totallywicked-eliquid.com/products.html. The nicotine liquid comes in different strengths and flavors, it's rechargable and easy to fill. It also gives a good amount of vapor so you actually feel the inhale.
eileen10 6 months ago
Thank you TickledPink.That's exactly what I need.
spelchek 6 months ago
There's bad stuff in a cars exhaust that we all breath but where's the outrage?
JCLifer 6 months ago
Do you eat in a restaurant with a smokey stinky old truck fuming up the place?
spelchek 6 months ago
No, just at red lights, parking lots, parking garages, gas stations, driveways, highways, interstates, cities, rural areas, farms, truck stops, car dealerships, etc...
JCLifer 6 months ago
Do you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?
asb 6 months ago
May he rest in peace . . . thanks Lifer . . .
eileen10 6 months ago
Welllll I don't know about you guys but when I'm pumping gas I get my face real close to the nozzle and suck those fumes in! Wheeee!!!!I figure I may as well get some pleasure due to how much gas costs nyuck nyuck nyuck. Am I telling the truth or am I BSing.
monalisa413 3 months, 3 weeks ago
I am a 61 yr. old woman. I am not stupid. I've been a smoker for most of my adult life except for a 6 yr. reprieve when I was pregnant with my daughter and allowed a family crisis to be my excuse for starting up again. I have had pneumonia twice, with the last one just a few months ago which left me with a much worse cough than I already had (smoker's hack). A couple of years ago, I ordered an e-cig kit but couldn't get used to it. I don't remember what brand it was but it was the type that you had to refill your cartridges. I hated the taste. 2 months ago, I decided to order another brand which I have enjoyed using. They seem to be constantly improving them. I haven't smoked a regular cigarette since (I was nearly at two pack a day, filtered, little cigar smoker; much cheaper than cigarettes). After 3 weeks, my cough vanished! No chest congestion, no wheezing. I always panicked at the first signs of a cold, knowing that the cough would linger much longer than anything else. I haven't been cough free in years. So all you nitpickers on here fussing about this "danger" and that "danger" need to keep in mind that ANYTHING that gets a long time smoker to put down the cigarettes is a real blessing. There is NO WAY that those "dangers" come close to the DANGER of smoking tobacco. We have a fairly large family we are involved with regularly (20+, not including children) and I am now the 2nd to last that has quit. Both of my parents died from smoking. My dad at 69 from pneumonia and alcoholism, and my mother at 80 from copd. She didn't quit till she was 78. I realize I'm still at great risk of lung disease. My husband's uncle quit at 69. Although he suffers from emphysema, is on oxygen 24/7, he is 92 years old. It is NEVER to late to quit! Please, don't begrudge and demean those of us who don't have the ability to just go cold turkey. That's how I did it all those years ago and I was literally sick for weeks. And I NEVER felt good like everyone said I would. You don't know what goes on in our lives, what challenges we face. What we need is support and encouragement for taking that one huge step in putting down cigarettes.
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