E-Cigarettes Deliver Nicotine - JF Etter

[rolygate]

Electronic Cigarettes Deliver as Much Nicotine as tobacco Cigarettes

Saliva cotinine levels in users of electronic cigarettes


--------------------------------
PRESS RELEASE
Embargo: November 1st, 2011, 00:01am GMT.

Electronic Cigarettes Deliver as Much Nicotine as tobacco Cigarettes

In an article published today in the European Respiratory Journal, results from a study on electronic cigarettes show users get as much nicotine from this product as smokers usually get from tobacco cigarettes.

The study, by researchers from the Universities of Geneva and Auckland, reports levels of cotinine (a product of the degradation of nicotine by the liver) in users of electronic cigarettes.

This is the first time cotinine data among electronic cigarette users in real-life conditions are published. So far, there were only laboratory data among naïve users who used this product briefly before their blood was tested for nicotine. These previously published data showed that naïve users obtained little or no nicotine from electronic cigarettes.

The new research published today shows instead that experienced users (all of them former smokers), in real life conditions (not in a laboratory) get a dose of nicotine similar to the dose that smokers usually get from tobacco cigarettes.

These results are important because governments in many countries are developing regulations for electronic cigarettes (currently, some countries prohibit them, others allow them with nicotine and others without nicotine). In this context, it is very important to know, for health authorities, doctors and consumers, that electronic cigarettes can deliver as much nicotine as tobacco cigarettes.

Geneva, Switzerland, October 31, 2011.

Source
Etter JF, Bullen C. Saliva cotinine levels in users of electronic cigarettes. European Respiratory Journal. 2011, Nov 1, vol 38, 1219-1220.

Media Contact
Jean-François ETTER (author of the research), Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
E-mail: Jean-Francois.Etter[AT]unige[DOT]ch

 

[RichieRich]

What's funny to me is nicotine is most likely the least worry some ingredient in analogs. Plus, I can choose how much nicotine I consume in an e-cig.

 

[rothenbj]

A good study that hopefully will get some media coverage.

 

[Zurd]

FTA : "Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS or electronic cigarettes) look like cigarettes"

Well mine doesn't look like a cigarette at all, it's a mini-Reo

I can't access the article since you must pay for it but I'd like to know what nicotine mg is needed in how many puff to be able to reproduce the same amount of nicotine as a regular cigarette.

 

[Bill Godshall]

Please post a weblink for Etter's press release.

 

[Placebo Effect]

But Dr. Eissenberg told us that e-cigarettes are about as effective at delivering nicotine as a fake cigarette.

Who am I supposed to believe?

 

[Spazmelda]

And isn't there another researcher (or something) out there who has been quoted as saying they may give us too much nicotine (we just don't know *wringing hands worriedly*). [/sarcasm]

That's what sometimes strikes me as funny. Maybe we don't get any, maybe we get too much and we're all dead from nicotine overdose and we just don't know it. Whatever. I don't really care how much nicotine I'm getting as long as I don't want a cigarette and I don't overdose.

Really, I do know that it's necessary to have this information. I'm not surprised that we get nicotine. It seems that I can feel the effects for sure, and it's nice to know it's not a placebo effect. But if it was a placebo effect, it wouldn't really be detrimental to me, as I've quit smoking regardless.

I did find a powerpoint presentation by the same author as above which had some charts from a survey. Looks like those who use nicotine are more successful in avoiding cigarettes than those using no-nic. So this is all good information.

 

[Tom09]

Good to see that published science catched up with real-world experience.
Should be interesting to read the actual paper. Does someone has a pdf?

 

[Vocalek]

And isn't there another researcher (or something) out there who has been quoted as saying they may give us too much nicotine (we just don't know *wringing hands worriedly*). [/sarcasm]

That's what sometimes strikes me as funny. Maybe we don't get any, maybe we get too much and we're all dead from nicotine overdose and we just don't know it. Whatever. I don't really care how much nicotine I'm getting as long as I don't want a cigarette and I don't overdose.

Really, I do know that it's necessary to have this information. I'm not surprised that we get nicotine. It seems that I can feel the effects for sure, and it's nice to know it's not a placebo effect. But if it was a placebo effect, it wouldn't really be detrimental to me, as I've quit smoking regardless.

I did find a powerpoint presentation by the same author as above which had some charts from a survey. Looks like those who use nicotine are more successful in avoiding cigarettes than those using no-nic. So this is all good information.

Yes. Their survey had over 3,500 participants. They found that 77% of daily users no longer smoke! No wonder the ANTZ are working so hard to try to get sales and use of these products outlawed. It endangers their profitable relapse-go-round.

Etter JF, Bullen C. Electronic cigarette: users profile, utilization, satisfaction and perceived efficacy. Addiction 2011 DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03505.x. Electronic cigarette: users profile, utilization, satisfaction and perceived efficacy - Etter - 2011 - Addiction - Wiley Online Library (accessed June 2011) Full Text: Electronic Cigarettes

 

[rolygate]

Sorry Bill but he emailed it to me. Here is an online version:

University of Geneva | Electronic Cigarettes Deliver as Much Nicotine as Tobacco Cigarettes

Here is the email PR as plain text:

 

[Bill Godshall]

Thanks for posting press release weblink, as I can now circulate widely.

If anyone has a full text version of Etter's new study, please send a copy to me at smokefree@compuserve.com

Thanks

 

[MPage]

I personally do not think I get the same nic as in an analog but I am far from scientific so hope it's true.

 

[yvilla]

I personally do not think I get the same nic as in an analog but I am far from scientific so hope it's true.

MPage, from many users experiences, I think that it's clear that nicotine intake via cigarettes versus e-cigs is not a one-to-one comparison. In other words, we don't get the same nicotine puff for puff, but it may take, for example, 10 times as many puffs on an e-cig to get the equivalent amount of nicotine as from smoking a cigarette.

However, that does not mean that we can't get the same amount of nicotine from vaping as we used to from smoking - it only means we may need to vape more, proportionally. And I do think you will see that borne out in real life vaping and in posts here on ECF - many vape pretty much constantly. But that's okay.

Nor do I think the authors of this study meant to imply it was a one-to-one comparison either. Take a look at this quote from the press release:

This is the first time cotinine data among electronic cigarette users in real-life conditions are published. So far, there were only laboratory data among naïve users who used this product briefly before their blood was tested for nicotine. These previously published data showed that naïve users obtained little or no nicotine from electronic cigarettes.

The new research published today shows instead that experienced users (all of them former smokers), in real life conditions (not in a laboratory) get a dose of nicotine similar to the dose that smokers usually get from tobacco cigarettes.

The previous research mentioned was Eissenberg's - flawed in that it did rely on naive users and only allowed such a short time and very few puffs before measurement, then declaring that e-cigs did not deliver nicotine.

Since this study used "real life conditions", in contrast, it is easy to see how they came up with their more realistic findings.

Bottom line, experienced vapers know how to get just as much nicotine as they need/want.

 

[tommy2bad]

I personally do not think I get the same nic as in an analog but I am far from scientific so hope it's true.

I think I do, what I think is I don't get 'something else' what that is I don't know but theirs definitely something missing.
It could just be the habit of smoking, the ritual of it, if so it will be replaced by the vaping habit when my vaping settles into a pattern. ATM I'm all over the place with different cartos atties tanks not to mention flavors. Or it could be the monoxide head rush from that cigarette after a wait.
Time will tell because one thing is I don't crave cigarettes anymore, just miss them in a nostalgic sort of way.

 

[rolygate]

There are many reasons why cigarettes deliver a fast result, and with their added-value ingredients appear to provide more satisfaction, at least initially, than other products such as smokeless tobacco or e-cigarettes.

They are a fully-engineered product and designed to be as effective as possible. Among a myriad of advantages that the burning of tobacco has are the carbon monoxide provision, which has a multiplying effect on the other factors, and the WTAs that are almost certainly implicated in the attraction of the system, at least in some individuals.

To compete with the combination of the effective and synergistic chemicals in a cigarette, an electronic cigarette would need to supply the nicotine in a faster-acting form such as nicotine pyruvate, include WTAs, and perhaps even a little CO or something similar. When the industry starts to employ chemists these types of additions will become more common.

One day, no doubt e-liquid will be as carefully engineered as cigarette tobacco. That may or may not be a good thing, depending on your point of view...

 

[Bill Godshall]

In response to Etter's study and press release, Tom Eissenberg has circulated a notice concurring with Etter's findings (i.e. that e-cigarettes deliver nicotine) to various anti-tobacco groups and researchers.

Eissenberg also acknowledging that although his first study found virtually no plasma nicotine in smokers after their first use of an e-cigarette, his subsequent research found that e-cigarettes delivered nicotine to experienced e-cigarette users who used the product as they desired.

I've asked Eissenberg's permission to circulate his posting to e-cigarette consumers and vendors.

While I'm pleased that this issue is now behind us, I suspect that abstinence-only e-cigarette prohibitionists will respond by intensifying their false fearmongering allegations that e-cigarettes contain lethal doses of nicotine.

 

[DC2]

While I'm pleased that this issue is now behind us, I suspect that abstinence-only e-cigarette prohibitionists will respond by intensifying their false fearmongering allegations that e-cigarettes contain lethal doses of nicotine.

Well of course, this is a fight after all.


And for every jab, there needs to be a counter.
We just need to keep on jabbing, knowing full well they will keep on jabbing.

Hopefully someday soon we will land a haymaker and knock them out for good.

 

[AlmightyGod]

I was selected to participate in this study, & sent in a saliva sample in January. I'm glad to see the results being published in a timely manner. (I believe the study ended in September.)

 

[rothenbj]

There are many reasons why cigarettes deliver a fast result, and with their added-value ingredients appear to provide more satisfaction, at least initially, than other products such as smokeless tobacco or e-cigarettes.

They are a fully-engineered product and designed to be as effective as possible. Among a myriad of advantages that the burning of tobacco has are the carbon monoxide provision, which has a multiplying effect on the other factors, and the WTAs that are almost certainly implicated in the attraction of the system, at least in some individuals.

To compete with the combination of the effective and synergistic chemicals in a cigarette, an electronic cigarette would need to supply the nicotine in a faster-acting form such as nicotine pyruvate, include WTAs, and perhaps even a little CO or something similar. When the industry starts to employ chemists these types of additions will become more common.

One day, no doubt e-liquid will be as carefully engineered as cigarette tobacco. That may or may not be a good thing, depending on your point of view...

I look back at my journey where after 6 months I started wanting more than the six cigarettes I had been smoking a day. My PV did great at dropping me from the 50 or so I was smoking, but there was that "what's missing" factor. For me, snus got rid of that immediately. Six to eight smokes at month seven disappeared immediately without any real desire to even take a drag on cigarette moving closer to 2 years every day.

I started using 4-5 portions and today I could almost say 4 portions a day 95% of the time. I do use WTA nicquid, but around 2ml a week on average and that's because I just really enjoy puffing on something once in a while. I can go days without.

Now to the point of my post. How much of that "addiction" that kept increasing the amount I smoked was nicotine and those other alkaloids and how much was the habit of hand to mouth the got ingrained into my subconscious? I certainly am not getting nearly the amount of nicotine or WTA I was getting from smoking, but I'm totally content where I am.

There is truly a lot these scientists don't understand about smoking. For that matter most ex-smokers don't understand the complexity. They could start out with one basic principle- There is no one size fits all solution and for the really hard core smoker, there may not be any.

 

[rothenbj]

"While I'm pleased that this issue is now behind us, I suspect that abstinence-only e-cigarette prohibitionists will respond by intensifying their false fearmongering allegations that e-cigarettes contain lethal doses of nicotine."

They sure do, haven't you seen the body count in the street?