E-Cigarettes, Miracle or Menace? BBC Horizon...

[Oliver]

Watch this, share this. Absolutely brilliant from Dr. Michael Mosley last night on BBC science show "Horizon".



Quotes from the show (thanks to @evan le'garde in the thread for pulling them out!):

"I think they have a great potential to save millions of lives over the next twenty , thirty years."

"They could turn out to be one of the greatest, perhaps "the" gretest even, Public health innovations of our generation !."

"When i set out to vape for a month i was worried i'd get hooked on nicotine. But i haven't begun to crave it at all !."

"Research in animals suggest that nicotine is more addictive when it's delivered in combination with other chemicals found in regular cigarettes. So it may be that vaping is less addictive than smoking".

"We are seeing an increase in experimentation, err, with electronic cigarettes among young people, say eleven to eighteen, erm, what we are not seeing is regular use among young people who are never smokers".

"That might be because actually when young people use these products they might be appealing but they are not as addictive as a tobacco cigarette, i think they're quite different !".

"So when it comes to helping smokers quit, e cigarettes, like nicotine replacement therapy, are far more effective than going cold turkey".

"Most people on the e cigarettes were not keen to keep using them for ever and ever".

"Their goal was essentially to give it up entirely. They didn't see it as a sort of bridge or an alternative or one way to just keep on inhaling nicotine. Their plan was eradication".

"It seems to me that whether e cigarettes are good news or not really depends on how they're used".

"The evidence suggests that vaping is far safer than smoking. And is also an effective way to help you quit".

"vaping does seem to cause some harm to our bodies. But in the short term the risks appear to be low".

"The one thing that science can't yet answer is "what are the long term effects. On this there is no consensus."

"Books and PHD's and movies will be made about how was it possible that people from within public health are vigorously opposed to something which provides such a huge public health benefit".

"Clearly if you're not a smoker then taking up vaping is a stupid thing to do !".

"But if i was a smoker, then despite the uncertainties and potential downsides, i would certainly give it a go."

"Worldwide there are currently around a billion smokers. And about half of them will be killed by their habit. If e cigarettes can win a significant share of the trillion dollar tobacco market this could transform the worlds health".

 

[sonicbomb]

The positive messages are mounting. A smoker and casual anti-vaper friend of mine texted me and told me to watch this

 

[Jumpin' In...]

A fair assessment of where we are currently. Well done.

 

[Delilah718]

Thank you for sharing! This video answered lots of questions for me with its side by side comparison experiments! Outstanding program!

Thanks again!

 

[jazdale]

Bravo !!
Finally, a non-biased approach.

 

[salemgold]

Excellent.

 

[Big Me]

The thing I found most intriguing was the people who used e-cigs in the test group were given basic ego set ups (possible 2nd gen devices) but Dr Mosley used a nautilus and an evic mini(?) which are both more advanced devices.

How much easier would the vapers have found it if they had been given more up to date equipment?

 

[salemgold]

They show a lot of different testing in this video on vapor. Very interesting that menthol was more harmful to living cells than a Pina Colada flavored ejuice. So, all of these vapers that have been so worried about diacetyl may indeed find out that is not where their concern should be. That is what I have been saying is a good possibility all along.

 

[dansus]

 

[Oliver]

Good work @dansus, thanks!

 

[Roadtrip635]

That was awesome! Definitely gonna share this video!

 

[zoiDman]

Great piece SJ. Thank You for posting it.

I always thought (optimistically/naively) that the mounting Scientific Evidence that e-Cigarette use is a Significant Reduction in Harm over Smoking would influence the FDA. That an Agency that is supposed to have a Primary Purpose of Promoting Public Health would have a hard time turning their backs on those who Smoke.

And that the FDA Deeming Rule set could Never be written to the Extremes so as to Intentionally Impeded a Smoker's/Future Smoker's ability to have access to Harm Reduction.

Never say Never.

 

[orion7319]

They show a lot of different testing in this video on vapor. Very interesting that menthol was more harmful to living cells than a Pina Colada flavored ejuice. So, all of these vapers that have been so worried about diacetyl may indeed find out that is not where their concern should be. That is what I have been saying is a good possibility all along.

And here I have been using menthol for the past two years because I had heard that it was the safest. Looks like I'm picking up some Pina Colada this afternoon, and I hope I happen to like it! The guy doing this research said he is trying to get that info out, but I don't think they mentioned where you can actually find it. The whole video was very informative and unbiased, thanks for sharing that. We need fair and unbiased treatment of vaping right about yesterday....

 

[evan le'garde]

Quotes :

"I think they have a great potential to save millions of lives over the next twenty , thirty years."

"They could turn out to be one of the greatest, perhaps "the" gretest even, Public health innovations of our generation !."

"When i set out to vape for a month i was worried i'd get hooked on nicotine. But i haven't begun to crave it at all !."

"Research in animals suggest that nicotine is more addictive when it's delivered in combination with other chemicals found in regular cigarettes. So it may be that vaping is less addictive than smoking".

"We are seeing an increase in experimentation, err, with electronic cigarettes among young people, say eleven to eighteen, erm, what we are not seeing is regular use among young people who are never smokers".

"That might be because actually when young people use these products they might be appealing but they are not as addictive as a tobacco cigarette, i think they're quite different !".

"So when it comes to helping smokers quit, e cigarettes, like nicotine replacement therapy, are far more effective than going cold turkey".

"Most people on the e cigarettes were not keen to keep using them for ever and ever".

"Their goal was essentially to give it up entirely. They didn't see it as a sort of bridge or an alternative or one way to just keep on inhaling nicotine. Their plan was eradication".

"It seems to me that whether e cigarettes are good news or not really depends on how they're used".

"The evidence suggests that vaping is far safer than smoking. And is also an effective way to help you quit".

"Vaping does seem to cause some harm to our bodies. But in the short term the risks appear to be low".

"The one thing that science can't yet answer is "what are the long term effects ?". On this there is no consensus."

"Books and PHD's and movies will be made about how was it possible that people from within public health are vigorously opposed to something which provides such a huge public health benefit".

"Clearly if you're not a smoker then taking up vaping is a stupid thing to do !".

"But if i was a smoker, then despite the uncertainties and potential downsides, i would certainly give it a go."

"Worldwide there are currently around a billion smokers. And about half of them will be killed by their habit. If e cigarettes can win a significant share of the trillion dollar tobacco market this could transform the worlds health".

 

[Katmar]

Very well rounded approach. Thanks for sharing, SJ. I'll take 95-99% safer than smoking ANY day.

 

[snork]

"Clearly if you're not a smoker then taking up vaping is a stupid thing to do !".

That's about the only quote to which I had a negative reaction. My thin indoctrinated skin takes it personally because I extrapolate it to "Clearly continuing to vape for five years after quitting smoking is a stupid thing to do !".

 

[Oliver]

Wonderful, @evan le'garde - thanks for pulling out all the quotes!

 

[zoiDman]

... I'll take 95-99% safer than smoking ANY day.

You would think that EVERY Health Organization and Agency would do the same Also.

 

[TrueNorthist]

I watched it yesterday and was pleased Dr Mosley and even most of the experts who rendered judgements were fair and reasoned throughout the broadcast. The one thing that gives me most hope for the future of vaping, is that all involved are calling for more reputable study, which as we saw in this show will reveal what we already know: Vaping saves lives and has repeatedly been shown to pose virtually no serious risk of harm to anyone. I was a little disappointed however, that they did not show the results of exposing lung tissue to plain old room air, as well as vapour and cig smoke. My guess is that room air causes similar mortality to such tissue as does e-cig vapour, or at least nearly as much. What always seems to escape notice is that even the air deep inside a lush forest causes insult to lung tissues. Virtually everything we eat, breath and otherwise absorb causes some degree of cellular damage.

Thanks for the heads up Smokey Joe.

 

[Layzee Vaper]

My favourite line was:- Cigarettes are so uniquely dangerous that every cigarette smoked reduces somebodies lifespan by 11 minuets. Even if everybody in the population took up e-cigarettes we would still be better off.