One airline, Ryanair, which mainly operates in Europe, not only permits their use on flights, but also sells them to passengers. Some “no smoking” restaurants in the United States are permitting their use, say advocates for the product.

“Two years ago, no one had ever heard of these things,” says Matt Salmon, president of the Electronic Cigarette Association (ECA) in Washington. “Today, there is an estimate there are 300,000 users, but I think it’s in excess of that,” says Mr. Salmon, an antismoking advocate and former congressman.

In the e-cigarettes, most of which are made in China, there is no combustion of tobacco. Instead, the device contains a lithium battery. That heats up an atomizer, which turns the nicotine into a vapor. When the user inhales the vapor, the device’s tip glows with a red LED light to mimic the experience of smoking a cigarette. What is exhaled is water vapor. There is no smell, there is no lingering smoke.

On most e-cigarette  sites there are testimonials about how e-cigs have saved lives

In February, one manufacturer, Smoking Everywhere, which is not a member of the ECA, sued the FDA, claiming it did not have jurisdiction. Shortly, federal judge Richard Leon in Washington is expected to rule.

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As one of the owners of the E-Cig Shop, I personally took the time to research everything involved in the products we sell, because I didnt want to sell anything harmful to anybody.

I can’t speak for other products and how they are manufactured, I can only speak for ours.

The products we sell at the shop and here online are tested and have acceptance by many peer entities to our FDA around the world. I have checked out the units themselves to make sure they arent made with things like lead batteries or even lead solder on the wiring. I’ve also checked out our fluids and they are made of non toxic substances. And these substances were declared non-toxic (and even beneficial) by the FDA themselves. It wasn’t until these items were combined with the device and that combination threatened the bottom line of big tobacco, did the FDA at the behest of big tobacco’s deep pocketed lobbyists, decide that these products were now harmful.

If all of the FDA’s previous testing is true, these products are harmless and can help in the process of smoking cessation.

However, I will not say that these products will stop you from smoking. When it comes right down to it, the only thing that is going to make you stop smoking is sitting between your ears.

If your mind is not ready to quit, all of the patches, gums and e-cigs in the world wont help you stop.

Mike

Comparing the health risks of tobacco smoking to the Swine Flu brings out some interesting and thought provoking statistics. According to President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology on H1N1, “A plausible scenario is that the epidemic could cause between 30,000 and 90,000 deaths in the
United States.” That puts the comparison of real deaths of 443,000 smokers to a “war games guess” of 30,000 to 90,000 for the H1N1 influenza for which the government recently declared a Health Emergency. That declaration and the shortage of the H1N1 vaccine has caused a panic in the U.S.

No study or statistic has been offered that points to the Swine Flu as being more deadly than tobacco cigarettes in causing death, yet a disproportional effort in preventative measures are currently being channeled to defend
against a lower risk health issue. Toxic tobacco smoke contains many additional chemicals, including carbon monoxide and tar which is a sticky substance that accumulates in the lungs, causing lung cancer and respiratory
distress. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the world and is responsible for more than 5 million deaths each year.

What the flu vaccine is to H1N1 as a preventative, the electronic cigarette may be for the tobacco smoker. An electronic cigarette is a futuristic advancement in science that makes it look, feel, and taste like a tobacco cigarette, as the user duplicates the mechanical motions. It expels an almost odorless water vapor that looks like smoke, but isn’t. The e cigarettes are battery-powered with a cartridge that typically contains nicotine in various
levels (or none), propylene glycol and tobacco flavoring. In their October briefing, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in the United Kingdom released a favorable position on electronic cigarettes.

Propylene glycol, the primary ingredient in the electronic cigarette cartridge, may be a powerful deterrent against pneumonia, influenza, and other respiratory diseases when vaporized and inhaled according to a study by Dr.
Oswald Hope Robertson. Decades before the e cigarette was invented, a study was conducted by Dr. Robertson of the University of Chicago’s Billings Hospital in 1942 on inhalation of vaporized propylene glycol in laboratory
mice. A more in-depth article was printed in the 1942 issue of TIME Magazine http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,932876,00.html for November th. “Dr. Robertson placed groups of mice in a chamber and sprayed its air irst with propylene glycol, then with influenza virus. All the mice lived.
Then he sprayed the chamber with virus alone. All the mice died.”

The researchers also found that “the propylene glycol itself was a potent germicide. One part of glycol in 2,000,000 parts of air would–within a few seconds–kill concentrations of air-suspended pneumococci, streptococci and other bacteria numbering millions to the cubic foot.”

Clinical trials on electronic cigarettes containing propylene glycol were carried out in New Zealand by Dr. Murray Laugeson of Health New Zealand and can be found on the website of SS Choice LLC at http://www.eCigarettesChoice.com under the tab “Media Coverage.” Far from posing a threat to our health, the propylene glycol in e cigarettes might just keep us healthy. Further studies should be done on the effects of propylene
glycol to determine if it can be used successfully as a virus prevention tool. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the best flu preventative was right under our noses all this time

The FDA is trying their best to tell everyone that electronic cigarettes are bad for you. Their logic is laughable as the ‘culprit’ they point to is diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze. It is also used in toothpaste, tobacco and quite a few everyday products. The real problem is that the FDA and the tobacco industry are mad that they aren’t getting their cut. As always..its all about money.

At a time when the government is ostensibly trying to cut health costs, why is it trying to ban something that might help people quit smoking tobacco, perhaps the most devastating health problem in the U.S.?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a press conference late last month to scare Americans about the so-called “e-cigarette” — claiming it was loaded with harmful “toxins” and “carcinogens.” The agency was implicitly saying: Stay away from these newfangled, untested cigarette substitutes — better to stick with the real ones, the ones that we are more familiar with, the ones that cause over 450,000 deaths annually in the U.S.

In making its distorted, incomplete and misleading statement, FDA was violating its long-cherished tradition of sticking to sound science as the basis for its policies. And in doing so, it is putting the lives and health of millions of Americans at risk.

The truthful part of the FDA statement was that e-cigarettes have not been through formal efficacy and safety tests at the FDA, and they have only been around a few years. But in the press conference, here is what the FDA did not tell you but should have:

c Traditional cigarettes are lethal not because of the trace level presence of specific “carcinogens” and “toxins,” but because by using them, smokers inhale enormous amounts of smoke — otherwise known as “products of combustion.” It is the inhaled smoke that kills in so many ways — from cancers, cardiovascular and lung disease, and more.

c The cigarette was a relatively obscure product in our society until the invention of a cigarette rolling machine, and sales rose quickly prior to World War I.

Before that, tobacco was used relatively safely — in chew, pipes, cigars — because little if any smoke was inhaled. Cigarettes changed all of that.

c The e-cigarette — a cigarette-mimicking device made up of a battery, an atomizer and a cartridge — allows smokers to inhale, getting a dose of the nicotine they crave, and then sending steam out the other end (with little or no odor) to mimic the ritual and feel of smoking normal cigarettes.

c The FDA complained that the e-cigarette was a “nicotine-delivery system.” Well, it got that much right. But again, it’s the smoke that kills, not the nicotine. Yes, nicotine is highly addictive, and it is what keeps the smoker hooked. But getting the nicotine without the smoke is an enormous health advantage for cigarette smokers (the nicotine inserts come in various strengths and the users can adjust them downward as they wish).

c The FDA has approved other nicotine-delivery systems in the form of gums and patches — and they have been abysmal failures. The smoking cessation rates using these devices is less than 15 percent after one year, condemning millions of addicted smokers to a lingering death. We desperately need other alternatives. But the FDA has now joined a long list of so-called public-health organizations — including the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and the American Lung Association — whose collective motto seems to be “quit or die.” Not only do they reject e-cigarettes, but they also condemn other smokeless products like snus, which have a mere fraction of the health risks associated with smoking cigarettes.

c More than 1 million smokers are now using the e-cigarette — a product that offers some, if not all, of the “social amenities” of the real thing — holding the cigarette, taking a drag, seeing a plume of “smoke.” The FDA, lacking data that e-cigarettes pose a health hazard, was so desperate, it called on consumers to phone in adverse side effects of e-cigarettes so they could begin to build a case against them and proceed with their intended ban. They neglected, however, to request smokers who successfully quit using the e-cigarette to also call in.

Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States today. Any alternative acceptable to addicted smokers should be taken seriously. Instead of condemning the e-cigarette, the FDA should be sponsoring studies to evaluate its safety and efficacy — leaving it on the market in the interim.

Dr. Elizabeth Whelan is president of the American Council on Science and Health

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/06/fda-smoke-screen-on-e-cigarettes/