Are Electronic Cigarettes Harmful Or Not?

The debate over electronic cigarettes still creates a lot of smoke. While one section feels that e-cigarettes could help smokers to kick the habit, others feel that they are less safe, according to science20.com.

In a recent study that involved 120 countries by an independent authority, The Cochrane Collaboration, it was suggested that e-cigarettes are important to help smokers reduce or quit the habit.

Meanwhile, there is a debate on whether e-cigarettes should be taxed or not. Over the past five years, state revenues from cigarette excise taxes have plummeted from $5 million to $100 annually, tax officials said. Part of that huge decline is attributed to the growing popularity of vaping, which is liquid nicotine taken in through battery-powered devices. Even as tax officials were not able to guess how much the proposed tax could generate, they suggested that if nicotine is replacing tobacco, it should be taxed, according to reviewjournal.com.

On the other hand, a panel of global advocacy, ethical, policy, health, toxicology and industry experts from Germany, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and USA launched a debate: "Are electronic cigarettes killing me softly or are they our greatest public health opportunity?" at an organization called AAAS.

Speaker and Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health UK (ASH), Deborah Arnott, supported vaping. She pointed out that there has not been any growth in e-cigarette use in UK, and smoking rates in fact are falling due to e-cigarettes. A thousand people die globally from tobacco during their 90-minute session alone, while e-cigarrettes can reduce the number, according to her.

Speaker and Deputy Director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Dr. Wilson Compton, advocated the middle ground: "Electronic nicotine delivery systems have both promise and concern. Let's remember that cigarette smoking causes one in five deaths in the US every year. Every approach to reducing cigarette smoking should be considered, and e-cigarette use by smokers attempting to quit is promising. Nevertheless, advances in brain and gene research are showing that adolescent exposure needs closer attention."

Sir Peter Gluckman, Discussant and Chief Science Adviser to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, commented: "What is clear is that unless we obtain robust scientific evidence both as to short and long-term effects, we will remain confused as to whether e-cigarettes can be a positive or negative contribution to public health and whether their use can be regulated in such a way as to promote positive rather than negative outcomes."

Discussant and Chair of Evidence-Based Toxicology at Johns Hopkins University, Dr Thomas Hartung, said that the flavours added to some e-cigarette brands such as pop-corn or bubble-gum or even gin and tonic is an area of worry, as it is not completely clear what is safe and what is not. With information, there is a need to fight not old-school and old-science tobacco, but a highly modern one that is on par with pharma. There are possibilities of opportunities, he added.