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E-cigarettes may not help people stop smoking, study shows

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"adding to the debate over how tightly the products should be regulated" should include science.

Vape or e-cigarettes deliver a Neurotoxin - Nicotine: that’s science. Vape helps quit smoking: that's advertising and marketing.

"Nicotine causes addiction in much the same way as heroin or cocaine. It is just as addictive as these ‘harder’ drugs."

"Half of smokers die from smoking-related diseases. The tobacco industry needs new customers to replace the 114,000 people who are killed by smoking in the UK each year. Cigarette manufacturers make sure that they know exactly why people smoke and they cleverly market products to attract new customers."

reference: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/healthyliving/smokingandtobacco/whydopeoplesmoke/smoking-and-cancer-why-do-people-smoke

Simply enough, if your product kills your customer you will need new customers. Unregulated Vape or e-cigarettes deliver poison and are aggressively marketed to children. These devices are drug delivery systems and are unregulated, hence the addict has no idea what is in them.

Legal poison that kills, should Vape be regulated? Nope, they are too profitable. Legalized heroin sales people are leading the charge to addiction.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Seems like a no-brainer. E-cigarettes or their liquid solutions that contain nicotine should be regulated in some way. For that matter, so should caffeine. No company should be allowed to lace products with addictive substances without even regulations preventing sales to minors without parental permission.

But the question of whether the things end or curb cigarette use is not very relevant. The government needs to be very careful when trying to guide the behavior of citizens. Restrictions are one thing. But bans are not acceptable.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Considering Nicotine is commonly used as a pesticide and the e-cigarette devise delivers pesticide to children is unregulated. Sounds like a no-brainer.

So, first, no child should have access to pesticide dispensers. Second, if you like pesticide and want to coat your lungs with Neurotoxins maybe an exact knowledge of how much pesticide you enjoy could be a very low bar of "regulation".

As it is, these devises have been around for ten years. The idea that some don't know they are designed to deliver pesticide is a stretch. Proof of safety and control lies with the manufacturer not the victims of addiction.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

these e-cig things don't curb my nicotine cravings. i bought a modular e-cig back in 08 when they were still picking up steam on the market. since then i've even picked up a few of the cheaper ones you can find in stores as well. no matter what brand i used, i could puff on one of these for an hour or more and still want a real cigarette. after realizing they do nothing, are about as efficient at delivering nicotine as an unlit cigarette, and overall just fail to satisfy any cravings whatsoever, i had to come to the conclusion that they're a total scam. avoid e-cigs like the japanese cold. they don't work. they're not a safe alternative. they're just a waste-of-money placebo.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

they're just a waste-of-money placebo.

But even if it did not work for you, placebos do work for some people.

Also I fail to see how even a nicotine delivering e-cigarette is unsafe, say, compared to a real cigarette containing tar and benzene among other things.

Plus I never heard of an e-cigarette starting a fire.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"All of these products raise concerns that they will keep people smoking under the false hope that they are at less risk of adverse health consequences. The optimal outcome for public health is to reduce the number of people smoking at all."

reference: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/e-cigarette-safety/

Please note, the reference pages are from January 20, 2010.

E-cig, Vape or cancer furnace, whatever the industry wishes to call it, is a drug delivery system. Reading comments from four years ago shows the public dialogue is populated by the industry shill and deceiver.

If the manufacturers can confuse and boiler plate "independence" justifications these products will remain available to children and, as one commenter suggested, remain a joke store novelty.

The goal is clear. Cancer and addiction are not independence or freedom. They expensive and deadly public health care concerns. The science is in. Neurotoxins, nicotine, are a poison. The industry wants a 'get of jail free' card and ignore the responsibility of marketing these neurotoxin delivery systems.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I smoked a pack a day for 32 years. On July 22, 2011, I started using an e-cigarette with the intent of quitting. On July 26,, 2011, I smoked my last cigarette. On January 2, 2012, I stopped using the e-cigarette. Since then, I have used neither cigarettes or e-cigarettes. I don't have cravings, I don't miss the taste, nothing. I am D-U-N done.

When e-cigs are used as a smoking cessation aid, they can be effective. I'm proof. They may not be effective for everyone, because everyone is different.

There may be risks inherent in their use. But I would rather take that risk (for the 5 months that I used it) than continue smoking for the rest of my life.

The government is interested because it drives them nuts when there's commerce going on and they aren't getting a piece of the action, as they do with cigarettes. If the government wants to get involved, sure, go ahead. But tax e-cigarettes and supplies at 1/10 the rate of cigarettes. Limit advertising and sales exactly the same way you do for real cigarettes. Establish rules (not guidelines) for acceptable ingredients and standardized "doses" of nicotine.

If these things are kept out of the hands of kids, and if they're not marketed to non-smokers as something "cool," I don't see any problem with the things. They're safer than cigarettes, and they might help people quit, as they did for me.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

One person suggests their personal experience trumps science.

This is the technique of the shill for addiction. If Mr. Somebody suffered for 32 years with nicotine addiction wouldn't they be the first to INSIST on regulation? Imagine the cost and damage to them, their loved ones and wallet. Still, here, the voice of industry beacons. 'Come, smoke, it's all good.'

Mr. Somebody may have no cravings because their addiction has abated. An addiction clinic can do that for you in thirty days. Nicotine is a drug, a Neurotoxin, that means it destroys your brain, seek help your body can be cleaned of toxins and adding them back with unregulated sexy advertising is irresponsible. But, the 32 year victim of addiction already knows this.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

One person suggests their personal experience trumps science.

"One person" stated that it worked for me, and may not work for everyone. I thought I was most reasonable in that respect, along with my hope that there would be resonsible legislature to control this product. What "science" do you think I'm trying to trump? I smoked for 32 years, I found nothing that helped me to quit until I used an e-cigarette. I drew no conclusions from this, I merely stated that I quit because of the e-cigarette. You are the only one trying to draw further conclusions.

This is the technique of the shill for addiction. If Mr. Somebody suffered for 32 years with nicotine addiction wouldn't they be the first to INSIST on regulation? Imagine the cost and damage to them, their loved ones and wallet. Still, here, the voice of industry beacons. 'Come, smoke, it's all good.'

I didn't insist on regulation because that wasn't my major concern. Apparently it's your major concern. So if you want regulation, why don't you start off with the ones I suggested?

Mr. Somebody may have no cravings because their addiction has abated. An addiction clinic can do that for you in thirty days.

Yes, my addiction has, clearly abated. I'm guessing you have never smoked, or you would realize that what makes smoking such a hard addiction to break is the fact that it's both an addiction and a habit. It's not just chemical dependency, it's a cigarette when we're driving or talking on the phone or after eating. The e-cigarette is uniquely capable of handling those situational cravings, due to its replication of the acts of handling a cigarette and drawing on a cigarette. That's why it worked for me. (I'd quit cold turkey years ago, after having my wisdom teeth taken out. I was back to smoking again within 5 months, because the habit pulled me back in. This isn't a simple matter of detoxification.)

Nicotine is a drug, a Neurotoxin, that means it destroys your brain, seek help your body can be cleaned of toxins and adding them back with unregulated sexy advertising is irresponsible. But, the 32 year victim of addiction already knows this.

What this "32 year victim of addiction" knows is that he never would have been able to quit without the e-cigarette. Not with a nicotine patch or gum (both of which I imagine you hold in the same level of contempt), not with Chantix, not with anything else. 5 months of e-cigarette usage, versus smoking for the rest of my life. Only someone with a slightly twisted agenda would fail to see that this is an easy choice to make.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Someone has done himself a great service.

Let's try to make sure no more generations are lost to addiction. Far from contempt, what science shows is clinical treatment is necessary in many cases and far more effective than the chance luck of one individual's experience.

The source of such great suffering is the marketing and greed of those who sell an addictive legal pesticide, nicotine, as a "right". Far from contempt, except for those who minimize the dangers, and far closer to the facts. Stay the course, someone's freedom shouldn't enslave another generation to nicotine.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Kcjapan , i agree that e cigs should be regulated, but nicotine itself is not what causes cancer. It is the delivery system, ie combustion. Vaporization removes that risk. Your claim that nicotine is/was used as a pesticide is correct, but it is a poor example because it affects the human body differently than insects. It is certainly addictive, hence the reason it should be regulated, but the serious effects on health come from burning and inhaling tobacco.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Nicotine has only been described as the addictive chemical as strong as heroin or cocaine. No one is advocating more Neurotoxins like nicotine get a free pass. The only action urged is the clear and effective regulation of drug delivery systems, like e-cig or vape.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

So we agree. But their viability as a means to quit smoking should be examined more thoroughly. If, at the very least, it draws people away from cigarettes, then that is good enough. I am very much against movements to ban e-cigarettes though.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Banning dangerous and unproven products is the responsibility of health ministries and product safety. Australia, Canada and others have done this.

As it is, there are no controls on these products, none. It is not too much to place the responsibility for product safety with the manufacturer. Only to repeat, however, proof of safety and control lies with the manufacturer not the victims of addiction. Allowing unknown benefit with unknown danger is a poor bargain science cannot support as a logical solution. Anecdotal proof isn't sufficient.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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