SUZANNE TATE COLUMN: E-cigarettes Just Another Nicotine Delivery Method

You may have noticed a newer product for sale in malls and online designed to “help” smokers; at first glance you might even think they are cigarettes.

They are “electronic cigarettes,” a puffable product that is powered by a battery and produces no smoke. It contains no known carcinogens or tar, hence the “safer” label being touted by its manufacturers.

They are cheaper than traditional cigarettes, which as any smoker knows are hovering around $4 per pack regardless of brand. The ersatz smokes are meant to re-create the smoking experience, down to fancy packaging with photographs of beautiful people “smoking.” The product produces a vapor that looks like smoke and the tip glows red as you puff on it.

And when you inhale, you get a hit of chemicals that includes nicotine – the real reason for smoking and what keeps everyone coming back. The companies marketing these products claim it will help smokers kick the habit.

This sounds like an interesting product because it does not contain tar or known carcinogens. But any smoker knows why this product won’t really work. It is designed to re-create smoking. Users are getting nicotine (what they crave) from a device that emits vapor (to look like smoke) and lights up (to look like a smoldering cigarette).

Is it safer? Who knows? There haven’t been any real scientific studies on the product. Would it cause anyone to give up their nicotine addiction? Of course not. It is simply a different delivery method.

An online article about these products quotes Dr. Jack Henningfield, an expert on addiction who serves as a scientific advisor on tobacco to the World Health Organization. He calls e-cigarettes “renegade products” for which “we have no scientific information.” The electronic cigarette, he says, is a vehicle to deliver nicotine to the body and its effect “are not benign,” especially when breathed into the lungs.
Other nicotine substitutes, like a patch or gum, are licensed as drugs and have approval by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Nearly all the e-cigarettes are manufactured in China and are not licensed or regulated.

If you are trying to stop smoking, talk to your doctor or another health care provider about proven methods to quit. These e-cigarettes are simply a different nicotine delivery system, not a means to give up the habit.

And on a totally different subject: I’m thrilled to see the effort and work going into the Virginia Highlands Festival, which runs July 25-Aug. 9 in Abingdon. Copies of the Highlander magazine that highlight festival events are available now.

I am off next week for a family trip to the beach, but I can’t wait to return for the start of the festival that is packed with music, arts events, crafts, antiques and more. For details, go to http://www.vahighlandsfestival.org and make plans to attend this event when it kicks off July 25.

Suzanne Tate is the opinion page editor at the Bristol Herald Courier and can be reached at (276) 645-2534 or .