E-cigarettes are one of America’s latest trends. Since entering the United States over the last ten years, they have taken the smoking community by storm. To many of us however, they are still somewhat of a mystery. Generally, we have a sense that they are less harmful than cigarettes, but how much less harmful exactly? With any new product, it is hard to foresee long-term health effects. But what do we know so far? Should e-cigarettes and their advertisements be regulated similarly to conventional cigarettes? Read on for a breakdown on what e-cigarettes are, the debates over them, and what regulation is being discussed.

What are electronic cigarettes?

E-cigarettes, also known as e-cigs and vaporizer cigarettes, are used as an alternate method to smoking tobacco via cigarettes, pipes, or cigars. They are battery operated and don’t involve smoke inhalation. The idea is that they bypass tobacco smoke, which can include more than 7,000 different harmful chemicals, many of which are known to cause cancer, heart disease, and lung disease. Some of the more well-known poisonous chemicals are cyanide, methanol, and ammonia. In addition, tobacco smoke includes tar, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide.

Many e-cigs are designed to look like cigarettes and create a similar experience for those who are smoking them. A Chinese pharmacist perfected them in 2003-2004 and they were quickly brought to the international market in 2005-2006. In the current, automatic versions, a user sucks on an end piece to activate a sensor that allows a heating element to vaporize a liquid solution held in the mouthpiece.

Components

E-cigarettes are generally reusable and come in three parts: the Mouthpiece, the Atomizer, and the Battery.

• Mouthpiece (Cartridge): The mouthpiece holds the liquid solution, also known as e-liquid and e-juice. This solution can contain different grades of nicotine and come in a variety of flavors. Some are meant to imitate established cigarette brands, while others are more exotic. The nicotine is most often dissolved in propylene glycol, a food additive. The FDA has labeled propylene glycol as a “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) substance.
• Atomizer: This is the heating element that allows for vaporization. It requires replacement every three to six months.
• Battery: The battery is the largest piece of the e-cigarette. It is usually lithium-ion and rechargeable. It catalyzes the heating element and often contains an LED light to showcase activation.

Nicotine 

This product eliminates the inhalation of tobacco smoke, however it is important to note that nicotine itself isn’t very healthy. Although it is not the element of cigarettes that causes cancer, the U.S. Surgeon General has linked nicotine to negative impacts on fetal and adolescent brain development, premature birth, and low birth weight. In rare cases, nicotine can even cause abnormal heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation. It is also known to cause mouth irritation, mouth and throat pain, high blood pressure, and canker sores.

In 2014, a study found that “e-cigarettes with a higher voltage level have higher amounts of formaldehyde, a carcinogen.” This is under debate however due to the methods and nature of the study.

How are conventional cigarettes regulated?

We already know that smoking tobacco is awful for your health. It is to blame for 30 percent of all cancer deaths in the U.S., and accounts for 87 percent of lung cancer deaths in men and 70 percent in women. As a result of these health concerns, cigarettes and their advertisements are heavily controlled. To ascertain whether e-cigarettes should be similarly regulated, we need to understand established cigarette regulations. Here are some recent highlights.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, passed in 2009, authorized the FDC to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products. It requires prominent warning graphic labels for cigarettes and larger text warnings on smokeless tobacco products. It regulates describing tobacco products as “light, low, or mild.” Tobacco companies must yield research on health, toxicological, behavioral, or physiologic effects of tobacco use. The FDA can conduct compliance check inspections of any establishment selling tobacco products and fine any establishments not adhering to set regulations. It also requires tobacco manufactures to receive an order or exemption from the FDA before it can introduce new tobacco products.

Other parts of the law are focused on preventing advertisements aimed at America’s youth. Cigarettes cannot be flavored. The packaging design and color must be muted. It prohibits tobacco brands from sponsoring “sporting, entertainment, or other cultural events.” It prohibits free samples of cigarettes. And lastly, it prohibits tobacco branding on non-tobacco products.

E-Cigarette Regulation

Currently, there aren’t any regulations concerning the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of e-cigarettes. The only type of e-cigarettes subject to regulation are those designed for therapeutic purposes, as the FDA has authority to oversee those.

Only three states in the U.S. ban e-cigarettes in designated 100 percent smoke-free venues: Utah, New Jersey, and North Dakota. Only 15 states restrict the use of e-cigarettes in other venues. There are 162 local laws that restrict e-cigarettes in various venues, but those appear to be few and far between.

Are e-cigarettes dangerous?

The question remains: should we be worried about e-cigarettes? That’s a debate that’s happening across the country. They do eliminate deadly smoke inhalation, the most detrimental part of smoking cigarettes. However, there are still concerning aspects of e-cigarettes that need to be taken into account.

E-Cigs as a Gateway to Smoking for Young Adults

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a 2014 study entitled, “Electronic Cigarettes and Conventional Cigarette Use Among US Adolescents.” The study was conducted out of a concern over the increasing use of unregulated e-cigarettes by today’s youth. The results came from a sample of U.S. middle and high school students who participated in the 2011 and 212 National Youth Tobacco Survey. It found:

Use of e-cigarettes was associated with higher odds of ever or current cigarette smoking, higher odds of established smoking, higher odds of planning to quit smoking among current smokers, and, among experimenters, lower odds of abstinence from conventional cigarettes. Use of e-cigarettes does not discourage, and may encourage, conventional cigarette use among US adolescents.

In accordance, a 2013 study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that:

Youth who had never smoked conventional cigarettes but who used e-cigarettes were almost twice as likely to have intentions to smoke conventional cigarettes as those who had never used e-cigarettes.  Among non-smoking youth who had ever used e-cigarettes, 43.9 percent said they have intentions* to smoke conventional cigarettes within the next year, compared with 21.5 percent of those who had never used e-cigarettes.

Additionally, the CDC found that more than 250,000 young adults who have never smoked a cigarette have tried an e-cigarette. That is a triple increase from 2011.

Targeting youth?

If these studies are indicative of reality, then it’s scary to think of how e-cigarette companies are targeting the youth demographic. According to a study published in Pediatrics, “electronic cigarette advertisements increased by 256 percent from 2011 to 2013 and young adult exposure to e-cigarette ads jumped 321 percent in the same time period.“ It found that 75 percent of youth exposure to e-cigarette ads happened through the medium of cable networks like AMC, Comedy Central, and VH1. E-cigarette ads appear on programs like “The Bachelor,” “Big Brother,” and “Survivor,” which were rated amid the 100 highest-rated youth programs in 2012-13.

Other tactics accused of being aimed at young adults include free giveaway samples at music and sporting events, candy flavors, and the glamorization of packaging. All of these actions have been banned for traditional cigarettes companies because of their appeal to the youth.

 Do e-cigs help people quit smoking?

It’s difficult to determine. Studies indicate that they don’t necessarily help stop smoking.

JAMA Study Findings

As previously discussed, the 2014 study published by JAMA found that e-cigarettes do not help smokers quit. Specifically with regard to quitting smoking, 88 (out of 949) smokers claimed to start using e-cigarettes at the beginning of the study. In the next year, 13.5 percent of those 88 quit smoking traditional cigarettes. Almost equal percentages of e-cigarette users and solely traditional smokers quit smoking traditional cigarettes within the year. The difference was so slight, it fell within the study’s margin of error.

There are also testimonials, easily found online, that share success stories of smokers that quit with the help of e-cigarettes. These findings and interviews are not to say that it never happens, but it does not seem to be the norm.

Discussions for Future Regulation

The FDA has the authority to regulate cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco. The FDA proposed the “deeming rule” on April 24, 2014 to extend tobacco products to include e-cigarettes. If approved, e-cigarettes would be regulated in the same manner as traditional cigarettes. This includes federal prohibition on free sampling, federal warning label requirements, and age verification requirements for retailers. It is still uncertain when and to what extent the FDA will be empowered to regulate e-cigarettes.

Conclusion

Studies looking into e-cigarette health concerns and their position as a gateway product for America’s youth are still new. The product only reached the U.S. in the last ten years and nothing is 100 percent conclusive. On one hand, smoking an e-cigarette is less harmful to your health than smoking a traditional cigarette. If a traditional smoker quits cigarettes and manages to only smoke e-cigarettes for the rest of his or her lifetime, that is a good thing. In the same respect, if a young adult who would have developed a smoking habit only ever uses e-cigarettes because of their availability, that is also a good thing. On the other hand, e-cigarettes aren’t necessarily safe for your health just because they are safer than cigarettes. And we could eventually find that they definitively promote cigarette smoking. The government and FDA can revisit the subject when there is more conclusive information available.

Resources

Primary

JAMA Pediatrics: Electronic Cigarette and Conventional Cigarette Use Among U.S. Adolescents

FDA: Deeming Tobacco Products to Be Subject to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

FDA: E-Cigarettes

Additional

BeTobaccoFree.gov: Law/Policies

American Cancer Society: Tobacco-Related Cancers Fact Sheet

American Lung Association: General Smoking Facts

American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation: U.S. State and Local Laws Regulating Use of Electronic Cigarettes

E-Cigarette Research: The Deception of Measuring Formaldehyde in E-Cigarette Aerosol

American Lung Association: Statement on E-Cigarettes

Medical News Today: What Are E-cigarettes?

RTI International: E-Cigarette TV Ads Targeting Youth Increased 256 Percent in Past Two Years

Science News: E-Cigarettes Don’t Help Smokers Quit

Jessica McLaughlin

Jessica McLaughlin is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in English Literature and Spanish. She works in the publishing industry and recently moved back to the DC area after living in NYC. Contact Jessica at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post E-Cigarettes: Should We Treat Them Like Traditional Cigarettes? appeared first on Law Street.

There is a new danger posing a massive threat to the health and longevity of young people. It holds the potential to be more lethal than MDMA, Heroin, tobacco, and every other street drug combined. The name of this new terror? Electronic cigarettes, designed to help the smokers of the real thing quit. DUN, DUN, DUN! Everybody start homeschooling your kids lest they pick up this atrocious habit and head down a lifelong path of recklessness. The scents of fruits and baked goods that encompass the flavors of electronic cigarette juice will surround the nation’s youth like an ominous black thunder cloud. Inhale vapor, exhale Satan’s breath.

The above paragraph is what is called hyperbole, a dramatic exaggeration for added emphasis. Recently, New York state passed a ban on electronic cigarettes in Central Park. I understand banning them indoors, where it makes complete sense that someone in a place like a restaurant would not want to eat his entree in a cloud of someone else’s electronic cigarette vapor. But in an enormous, unenclosed space? If it is between someone vaping e-cigarettes and smoking traditional ones, what would you choose?

Nicotine: Save our Children from this Toxic, Relentless Horror

A 2011 federal court case gives the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate electronic cigarettes under existing tobacco laws presumably because they deliver nicotine, which is derived from tobacco. This broad generalization that all electronic cigarettes “deliver nicotine” is not even true, since the flavored juices that turn to vapor via the use of devices often contain less nicotine than cigarettes and sometimes none whatsoever. Most articles stressing the health risks associated with nicotine delivered via e-cigarettes conveniently leave out this fact. Thankfully, an article on HowStuffWorks correctly points out that “there are also cartridges available that contain flavored liquid without nicotine, for users who want the sensory experience of smoking a cigarette without the harmful effects.”

According to an article bashing electronic cigarettes as a horrific danger to us all, the juice “poses a significant poisoning risk.” The article cites that, according to the CDC, “The number of calls to poison centers involving e-cigarette liquids containing nicotine rose from one per month in September 2010 to 215 per month in February 2014.” More than half of those calls involved children under age five.” How does this differ in any way from children getting into their parents’ medicine cabinets and overdosing on some candy-flavored medication? Here’s how you solve the issue of children getting a hold of electronic cigarette juice — put it on a higher shelf. There. I just solved one of the greatest concerns associated with e-cigs. Additionally, now that the good ol’ FDA is involved, they will probably make the juices childproof.

But of course, the concerns don’t stop there. The FDA claims that e-cigarette use can “increase nicotine addiction among young people and may lead kids to try other tobacco products.” First of all, please see my above comment about the nicotine-free juices. Additionally, in most states, minors are not allowed to purchase e-cigarettes or their accessories. Louisiana, one of the few exceptions previously, now prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. That law I get, because minors have underdeveloped brains that make rash decisions just to piss off their parents and the authorities. They are not trying to stop blackening their lungs and potentially giving themselves cancer by switching to a healthier method of getting their nicotine fix. Huge difference.Third, in response to leading kids to try other tobacco products, who wants to go from inhaling a smooth vapor flavored like delicious baked goods or refreshing fruits to choking down repulsive, chemical-laden and bitter tobacco smoke? No one, that’s who.

Toxic Vapor

Those adamantly calling for the banning of e-cigarettes argue that their juice has a high chemical content; however, the substance that is inhaled when vaping typically has four ingredients: propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, nicotine, and food-grade flavors, whereas cigarette smoke contains substances such as carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, ammonia, cyanide and acetone among many others. The Boston University School of Public Health has gone on record saying that “few, if any, chemicals at levels detected in electronic cigarettes raise serious health concerns.”

The FDA is more anxious than a preteen girl at a high school dance to regulate the heck out of e-cigarettes. Mitchell Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said the agency is exploring potential product standards in the areas of addiction, toxicity, and product appeal as it prepares to gain regulatory authority over electronic cigarettes and other nicotine-delivery devices. One of the positive aspects that would go hand in hand with these regulations would be the increased public education by the FDA.

It’s not the nicotine that kills half of all long-term smokers, its the delivery mechanism.
-Mitchell Zeller

Well said Zeller, well said.

Exploding E-Cigs

Another oft-cited criticism of e-cigarettes is that they have exploded in the mouths of their users. I’m not sure which punch I want to throw at this absurdity first. Let’s start with all of the explosions our beloved friends cigarettes have caused in their long reign. The fact that there are signs at gas stations warning smokers to smother their cancer-causers prior to fueling clearly started as a result of an explosion caused by the proximity of a cigarette to the flammable substance gasoline. Search “cigarette gas station explosion” on any search engine and the page will instantly bombard you with a string of news stories. Electronic cigarettes that explode generally have been tampered with in some way or another by their owner. Before you decide to label all e-cigarettes as potentially causing your face to burn off, remember that quality electronic cigarettes come with safeguards like automatic battery shutoffs or smart chargers that prevent overheating, and are properly tested prior to sale. According to manufacturers, regular e-cigarette batteries can’t do much damage even in the extremely unlikely event of their explosion.

My Lungs Hurt!

Let me cite and mercilessly rip apart another anti-electronic-cigarette argument. According to a scholarly article, “despite the marketing claims that e-cigarettes are safer than smoking tobacco, researchers are finding e-cig users experience diminished lung function, airway resistance and cellular changes, regardless of whether or not they currently (or ever) smoke cigarettes. Users who vape nicotine-free e-cigs can’t escape the effects, either; they also experience airway resistance and other signs of inflammation as side effects of e-cigarette use.” However, all tests done with e-cigarettes are short term studies, as in what happens ten minutes after you inhale their vapor. Additionally, nicotine isn’t the culprit of airway resistance and inflammation. Tobacco has thousands of carcinogens and causes 90 percent of lung cancer, while short term studies indicate some minor inflammation after vaping on an electronic cigarette. Which would you choose? A painful, lingering and potentially lethal disease or about ten minutes of smaller airwaves?

While one study performed by Greek researchers at The European Respiratory Center found that “E-cigarettes, electronic tubes that simulate the effect of smoking by producing nicotine vapor, caused an immediate increase in airway resistance, lasting for ten minutes, making it harder for participants to breathe,” another study by Greek researchers published in February 2013 found that e-cig use did not affect short term lung function in comparison to both mainstream and sidestream tobacco smoke. The important aspect to note in the first study’s findings is that it increased airway resistance for “ten minutes.” Oh Heaven forbid, TEN whole minutes! I guess in this ADD era of short attention spans, that is basically a lifetime…

E-Cigarettes Already Making a Difference

Yet there is success story following success story of musicians, athletes, and other individuals who push their lungs to the physical limits as part of their jobs switching from traditional cigarettes to electronic ones.

Playing a wind instrument requires an incredible amount of lung capacity and physical endurance. I used to smoke analog cigarettes and my lungs hurt every day, and playing upwards of 8 hours a day in college with painful lungs was absolutely miserable. As soon as my friend brought the earliest version of the now much more advanced electronic cigarette to rehearsal, I knew there was hope and I had to make the switch. I vape almost constantly every single day and ever since I switched from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes my lungs haven’t hurt once. I can’t remember the last cigarette I smoked, and I have no plans to start again.

-Alex Cazet, freelance saxophone musician

Switching from traditional to electronic cigarettes also makes a huge difference for athletes. Online forum after online forum feature athletes relaying statements about the huge difference e-cigs made in their athletic performance, health, and lives overall. With the potential of e-cigarettes providing extreme health benefits for previous cigarette smokers, it only makes sense to make their use completely legal. Yet state after state is imposing ridiculous bans on the devices. At the moment, North Carolina is considering adding a tax to e-cigarettes. Okay, let’s take a long, hard look at what this will cause. One of the reasons cigarette smokers want to quit: it costs a ton, especially with the jacked-up tax rates on each pack they buy. So, if saving money by switching to electronic cigarettes is no longer a draw, then a good number of smokers destroying their health will just shrug their shoulders and stick with their nasty habit. There are also a vast amount of laws banning the use of electronic cigarettes which are, rightfully so, pissing off their dedicated users. In New York, electronic cigarette users took part in a “vape-in” to protest the New York City ban on the devices. New Jersey, Utah, and North Dakota already have similar bans and more states are considering following suit.

These over-the-top laws, regulations and the seemingly sudden backlash against electronic cigarettes are completely befuddling to me. I admit that, due to their relatively recent popularity and invention, the effects of electronic cigarette use ought to continue being studied. Although the e-cig juices found to contain toxins are often poorly made, cheap options while there are myriad options on the market that are comprised of organic materials. Tobacco cigarettes, on the other hand, contain thousands of toxins including arsenic, a deadly poison.

So, aside from “grossing out” Rachael Ray and giving kids a new device to covet and try to obtain from their older friends, e-cigarettes hardly pose a more pertinent threat than that of their toxin-laden tobacco predecessors. Well, now that I feel I have educated the public, I’m off to go vape. Peace.

—

Marisa Mostek (@MarisaJ44) loves globetrotting and writing, so she is living the dream by writing while living abroad in Japan and working as an English teacher. Marisa received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder and a certificate in journalism from UCLA. Contact Marisa at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [Joseph Morris via Flickr]

Marisa Mostek

Marisa Mostek loves globetrotting and writing, so she is living the dream by writing while living abroad in Japan and working as an English teacher. Marisa received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder and a certificate in journalism from UCLA. Contact Marisa at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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