Health and Ecigs

The AAPHP, American Association of Public Health Physician (www.AAPHP.org), said quote

AAPHP favors a permissive approach to E-cigarettes because the possibility exists to save the lives of four million of the eight million current adult American smokers who will otherwise die of a tobacco-related illness over the next twenty years.

A document dated April 2, 2010 that can be found here, shows the AAPHP favoring the sale of e-cigarettes. The list many reasons as well as refer to several works they have on the subject and I highly recommend reading this document.

In an article posted in Daily News, Los Angeles, web site Michael L. Marlow gives his view-point on the legislatures actions towards e-cigs.  It is a very healthy and honest view from the academia on the entire FDA and other legislature bodies and their handling of the growing e-cig population.

This is a must read for anyone that is interested in what is really going on behind the scenes and how the academia world views e-cigs, not just political figures or die-hard e-cig fans.

In other words, though our knowledge of the health effects of e-cigarettes may be imperfect, we know for sure that they are considerably safer than lighting up a traditional cigarette. It seems public health advocates are more interested in controlling public behavior than seeing smokers choose a less harmful alternative.

Read the article here.

The TV show The Doctors reviewed electronic cigarettes a few years ago and I think it’s worth viewing again.

Keep in mind this was aired long before the FDA had its negative remarks aired.  But, it’s still nice to see what doctors thought about the product after reviewing them the first time.

 

A man in the Florida panhandle was injured severely when his electronic cigarette exploded.  He lost teeth, part of his tongue and has cuts to his face when the battery for his electronic cigarette somehow ignited as reported by WEAR Channel-3.

Photographer, Vietnam veteran and father of three Tom Holloway was being treated at a burn center, the station reported.

Friends and neighbors reported that Mr. Holloway stopped smoking for 2 years with the help of electronic cigarettes due to health issues.

Fire officials theorize that the cigarette’s battery somehow ignited and it was essentially as if Holloway was “holding a bottle rocket in his mouth,” the station reported.

According to the firemen, due to the explosion it’s impossible to tell what brand electronic cigarette the battery was.

This report was found on www.orlandosentinel.com.

The weartv.com report is here:

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_20551.shtml

The Washington Post and USA Today posted articles on a 5 year study performed by Harvard School of Public Health’s Center for Global Tobacco Control in Boston.  The lead author Hillel Alpert said “Even though other well-controlled studies have shown that nicotine replacement therapy can be effective, our study looked at real-world use over the long-term… And in the real world, cigarettes are simply a very powerful addiction. And NRT is apparently not an effective replacement for that addiction.”

The study was performed on 787 adult smokers in Massachusetts who had recently quit smoking.  They were interviewed 3 times at 2 year intervals.  They smokers ranged from light smokers to heavy smokers.  Based on the tests, those who used the nicotine replacement therapy relapsed back to smoking just as much as those who quit without them.

 

Read the Washington Post Article here.

Read the USA Today post here.

I just finished reading a great article from About.com COPD that really looks into the Pros and Cons of electronic cigarettes from an outside perspective that has done it’s research.  The real problem is that we, as electronic cigarette believers, have so little real evidence to work with.

But a couple of Deborah Leader’s points for Pro’s are:

  • In a case study series, the e-cigarette was found to help three study participants — who all had a documented history of repeated failed attempts at smoking cessation using professional smoking cessation assistance methods — quit smoking and remain abstinent for at least 6 months. Continue reading

According to the SBWIRE article, the FDA has made some accusations about the safety of Electronic Cigarettes last year but still have not released their findings.

The FDA is threatening the future of electronic cigarette companies with their research results which they are seemingly unwilling to release publicly. The July study is believed to contain data which states that only 2% of smokers die from the hundreds of carcinogens found in tobacco cigarettes. According to the study, the other 98% of deaths from cancer from smoking comes from a direct inhalation of fresh products of combustion within the smoker’s lungs. The conclusion is that the inhalation of electronic cigarettes could be as harmful as the effects of traditional cigarettes.

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Here is an excerpt form an article I found at Cosmos Magazine from 2008 about why nicotine is bad for people, especially with Heart Disease.

WHY NICOTINE IS BAD FOR YOU

• Nicotine is not carcinogenic, but it is highly addictive; after inhalation of smoke, nicotine reaches the brain within 20 seconds and its effects are felt within a minute.

• Nicotine is five to ten times more potent than cocaine or morphine in producing behavioral and psychological effects associated with addiction, including feelings of pleasure, according to a report produced by the U.K.’s Royal College of Physicians in 2007.

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