The electronic cigarette was invented in the 1960s, but it didn't really
take off until a decade ago. Currently, there are more than 250 brands
of "e-cigarettes" available in such flavors as watermelon, pink bubble
gum and Java, and in more colors than the iPhone 5C.
The Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association estimates about 4
million Americans now use battery powered cigarettes. They project sales
of the devices to cross the 1 billion mark by the end of this year.
Here, a look at the e-smoke trend, the good, the bad and the unknown.
E-Cigarettes Explained
| What are e-cigarettes? |
E-cigarettes are battery operated nicotine inhalers that consist of a
rechargeable lithium battery, a cartridge called a cartomizer and an
LED that lights up at the end when you puff on the e-cigarette to
simulate the burn of a tobacco cigarette. The cartomizer is filled with
an e-liquid that typically contains the chemical propylene glycol along
with nicotine, flavoring and other additives.
The device works much like a miniature version of the smoke machines
that operate behind rock bands. When you "vape" -- that's the term for
puffing on an e-cig -- a heating element boils the e-liquid until it
produces a vapor. A device creates the same amount of vapor no matter
how hard you puff until the battery or e-liquid runs down.
How
much do they cost?
Starter kits usually run between $30 and $100. The estimated cost of
replacement cartridges is about $600, compared with the more than $1,000
a year it costs to feed a pack-a-day tobacco cigarette habit, according
to the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association. Discount coupons
and promotional codes are available online.
Are
e-cigarettes regulated?
The decision in a 2011 federal court case gives the Food and Drug
Administration the authority to regulate e-smokes under existing tobacco
laws rather than as a medication or medical device, presumably because
they deliver nicotine, which is derived from tobacco. The agency has
hinted it will begin to regulate e-smokes as soon as this year but so
far, the only action the agency has taken is issuing a letter in 2010 to
electronic cigarette distributors warning them to cease making various
unsubstantiated marketing claims.
For now, the devices remain uncontrolled by any governmental agency, a
fact that worries experts like Erika Seward, the assistant vice
president of national advocacy for the American Lung Association.
"With e-cigarettes, we see a new product within the same industry --
tobacco -- using the same old tactics to glamorize their products," she
said. "They use candy and fruit flavors to hook kids, they make implied
health claims to encourage smokers to switch to their product instead of
quitting all together, and they sponsor research to use that as a front
for their claims."
Thomas Kiklas, co-owner of e-cigarette maker inLife and co-founder of
the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, countered that the
device performs the same essential function as a tobacco cigarette but
with far fewer toxins. He said he would welcome any independent study of
the products to prove how safe they are compared to traditional smokes.
The number of e-smokers is expected to quadruple in the next few years
as smokers move away from the centuries old tobacco cigarette so there
is certainly no lack of subjects," he said.
The jury is out. The phenomenon of vaping is so new that science has
barely had a chance to catch up on questions of safety, but some initial
small studies have begun to highlight the pros and cons.
The most widely publicized study into the safety of e-cigarettes was
done when researchers analyzed two leading brands and concluded the
devices did contain trace elements of hazardous compounds, including a
chemical which is the main ingredient found in antifreeze. But Kiklas,
whose brand of e-cigarettes were not included in the study, pointed out
that the FDA report found nine contaminates versus the 11,000 contained
in a tobacco cigarette and noted that the level of toxicity was shown to
be far lower than those of tobacco cigarettes.
However, Seward said because e-cigarettes remain unregulated, it's
impossible to draw conclusions about all the brands based on an analysis
of two.
"To say they are all safe because a few have been shown to contain fewer
toxins is troubling," she said. "We also don't know how harmful trace
levels can be."
Thomas Glynn, the director of science and trends at the American Cancer
Society, said there were always risks when one inhaled anything other
than fresh, clean air, but he said there was a great likelihood that
e-cigarettes would prove considerably less harmful than traditional
smokes, at least in the short term.
"As for long-term effects, we don't know what happens when you breathe
the vapor into the lungs regularly," Glynn said. "No one knows the
answer to that."
Do
e-cigarettes help tobacco smokers quit?
Because they preserve the hand-to-mouth ritual of smoking, Kiklas said
e-cigarettes might help transform a smoker's harmful tobacco habits to a
potentially less harmful e-smoking habit. As of yet, though, little
evidence exists to support this theory.
In a first of its kind study published last week in the medical journal
Lancet, researchers compared e-cigarettes to nicotine patches and other
smoking cessation methods and found them statistically comparable in
helping smokers quit over a six-month period. For this reason, Glynn
said he viewed the devices as promising though probably no magic bullet.
For now, FDA regulations forbid e-cigarette marketers from touting
their devices as a way to kick the habit.
Seward said many of her worries center on e-cigarettes being a gateway
to smoking, given that many popular brands come in flavors and colors
that seem designed to appeal to a younger generation of smokers.
"We're concerned about the potential for kids to start a lifetime of
nicotine use by starting with e-cigarettes," she said.
Though the National Association of Attorneys General today called on the
FDA to immediately regulate the sale and advertising of electronic
cigarettes, there were no federal age restrictions to prevent kids from
obtaining e-cigarettes. Most e-cigarette companies voluntarily do not
sell to minors yet vaping among young people is on the rise.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found nearly 1.8
million young people had tried e-cigarettes and the number of U.S.
middle and high school students e-smokers doubled between 2011 and 2012.
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