This is my typing-while-listening-to-podcast version...
(Dr Edell answers a call in question about ecigs being toxic)
Let's talk about the logic here because the feds you know require a prescription and they require you to go through all kinds of hoops if I want to market something to help you quit smoking. Here is like THE worst personal habit a person can have in terms of their health, right? and if I want to come up with a nicotine gum - oh my gosh, they made it SO hard. And now you can get these things over the counter but they really, really made it tough. So if you... An electronic cigarette would have to be SO toxic to even come close to what cigarettes do to you... I'm not sure what all the bellyaching is about, but here's what's going on, alright - because I was actually going to do this, the next story in my monologue, and we just ran out of time so I have the article here.
Here is where it's all coming from. "Electronic cigarettes contain traces of toxic substances and carcinogens" - traces, remember - "according to preliminary analysis." Now, this contradicts claims of electronic cigarette manufacturers that their products are safe, and it's a good alternative that contain little more than water vapor, nicotine, and propylene glycol, which creates the artificial smoke. And it produces a little vapor inhaled through [this] battery powered device. Now the analysis found that several of the cartridges contained detectable levels of nitrosamines. DETECTABLE levels of nitrosamines. Yes there's nitrosamines in tobacco. Yes we think nitrosamines, which you're gonna find in, you know, in hot dogs and sausages also, might cause cancer, but NOT LIKE CIGARETTES DO!
One cartridge was found to contain diethylene glycol... now that's kind of an antifreeze ingredient found in a lot of foods, and counterfeiters have substituted glycerine in toothpaste with diethylene glycol, so there's some political deal there. The Electronic Cigarette Association industry trade group says in a statement, "The FDA testing was too narrow to reach any valid and reliable conclusions." etc. etc.
I still think the product... they're gonna have to really beat me over the head to say it's anywhere's near as dangerous as cigarettes, and the question is whether you can use them to get OFF of cigarettes, whether they deliver enough nicotine. And there, here is a company... now I can't speak for this except they shot me a press release here, the company is called SmokeStik - and most of these electronic cigarettes come from China - THIS company, they say none of these compounds that they found in the chinese versions are found in SmokeStik. The CEO of the company says, blah blah blah... "our ingredients are certified in independent laboratories, do not contain any of the carcinogens found in the FDA report," etc. etc.
So I, you know, what can I tell you? What is the FDA saying - keep smoking?! I don't know why they... this is this all or none Just Say No type of a deal, which is the way our culture acts, I thinks, [in some of these deals (??)]. Oh yes, let's do testing, let's find out what's in them etc, but HELLO MR. FDA, YOU ALLOW CIGARETTES ON THE MARKET! You think it's okay! You allow them. They are poison, they kill people. So what's all the bellyaching about this particular product? How can you hold this product to a higher standard than you do cigarettes? You know what I'm sayin? Anyway, look up SmokeStik, see what they have to say on their website. It's S-T-I-K I think here, let's see. S-M-O-K-E-S-T-I-K.
So I, at this particular point in time, if that's the only way you can get off of cigarettes, go for it - right?!
