For the past few years we are witnessing a comeback of cigarette smoking in an unexpected manner. Our society is looking for new things, everything needs to have some components of digitalization or technology in them otherwise they aren’t “up-to-date”.
Smoking is not too different. As we would expect, the new generation of cigarettes are called “electronic or e-cigarettes”.
What are E-cigarettes?
E-cigarettes are battery operated cigarettes that are marketed in different shapes and forms, such as old-fashioned cigarettes, pipes, cigars and even pens. These cigarettes have additional two parts including a cartridge containing nicotine and other chemicals and a vaporizer.
I think most of you are already aware about the negative effects of smoking and tobacco. And hopefully, there aren’t too many individuals out there who still believe that smoking positively contributes to their health.
Do E-cigarettes help you to quit smoking?
It looks like electronic cigarettes might be beneficial in quitting smoking based on a few studies. But the cost of doing so –in my opinion—is high.
Let me explain,
I understand that the amount of chemicals in the E-cigarettes are less than traditional cigarettes but poison is poison. Some may argue that we are exposed to a lot of poisons in our environment, and less poison sounds better than lot more poison. I understand the argument. But you and I have no control on most other environmental toxins and rely on politicians to do something (e.g. global warming) but what about respecting our own body?
I am concerned that this justification (that less poison is better than lot more poison) might be more harmful to people who would switch to E-cigarettes and end up consuming nicotine and variety of other toxic chemicals much longer than otherwise they would. Or a large group of individuals who have never smoked decide to try these products because of their less harmful sounding consequences.
I sincerely believe that we should stop introducing toxins and poison to our body, entirely.
Electronic cigarettes provide a sneaky way of delivering nicotine and chemicals to our body mostly because they don’t produce smoke and can be used in any venue.
I agree that at least smoking E-cigarettes don’t harm other innocent people around the smoker but exactly because of this the acceptance of electronic cigarettes in the communities might be higher than old-fashioned cigarettes.
That could be one of the reasons why the sale of electronic cigarettes is exponentially growing from 20 million in 2008 to projected 10 billion in 2017 (statistic from UBS and Wells Fargo).
According National Youth Tobacco Survey the number of high schoolers using electronic cigarettes has increased from 4.5% in 2013 to 13.4% in 2014.
I think the harms of E-cigarettes is going to become much clearer in the coming years, I believe that electronic cigarettes should not be used as a tool for smoking cessation, and, that the long-term exposure to any form and amount of toxins cannot be wise.
Tobacco cessation is difficult but it is possible (see the Quit Smoking Resources). However, replacing a bad thing with another one might help with once guilty conscious but doesn’t make the individual healthier.
The post Electronic Cigarettes: Few Facts You Should Know appeared first on TheMedCircle- Dr.Daneschvar.
